Hidden Pearl
by kisa sohma cookie
Summary: She see's a side of the loonatics not many get to see, she learns more about them as people than she ever did when they are heroes, She is their cleaning lady, and she never thought her powers she desperatly hides coudl ever be useful. Can the Loonatics get this Pearl, named Tora, to come out of her shell? Fail summery is fail. Better on the inside, i promise XD
1. Chapter 1

…**(sighs) Alright. First and for most, I really shouldn't be writing this, because I'm in the middle of a bunch of other stories, I'm moving in for a new year of college in two days, and I need to be drawing as much as I can so my artist alley table at AAC this year is ready to go. However, I went and rediscovered Loonatics. And thus this story stated forming in my head. It was a good show in its own way (when you stopped comparing it to looney tunes itself and looked at it as its own show.) but one thing I wish they had more of is the relationships between the characters, besides the occasional show of affection and bantering. I wanted them to really delve into the bonds that the team had. I'm hoping this story will not do a better job of explaining it than the show did.**

**Also, I have two OC's in this story. And yes, one of which develops feelings for Rev, but I haven't quite decided if these feelings will go unnoticed and one-sided or not. It depends on how people respond to the character. To all the rev/tech fans out there that might be reading this, I have nothing against this pairing. I'm not denying or admitting whether or not Tech or Rev are gay, I just don't personally see them that way. To me, their kinda like Sam and Frodo from lord of the rings (yet another pairing that I get people's points on, but don't personally see) to me their more like brothers than anything. Again, nothing against the pairing (I've even read some really well written Tech/Rev stories) but y'know, Hopefully everybody likes Tora.**

**Sorry if the first chapter is boring, but everything has to be set up for the plot to make any sense. It will get even more entertaining as events start to take place, I promise.**

**Anyways, that's enough with the boring info, on to the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Loonatics unleashed. The only people I own in this story, are Tora, and Calvin.**

Zadavia was feeling a bit conflicted at the moment. Usually the Frelengian princess was self-assured in any decision she ever made, regardless of what it entailed. However, ever since she became involved with the Loonatics, she found herself questioning more and more about the way she thought and acted that she often wondered who indeed had the better impact on who. She on the Loonatics, or the Loonatics on her.

She held a great amount of respect for each of them, even a certain Danger Duck, though no one would have thought so. She often thought it was unfair, but necessary to ask the 6 young Acmetropolins to assemble the team. None of them at the time could really be called children at the time, Tech was the oldest, being a grad student of the Acme Tech university at 25, with Ace and Slam relatively the same age with the difference of a few months at 23 and 22. Duck and Lexi were both college students at the time of the meteor's strike, Lexi being somewhat older at 21, and duck at 20. Out of all of them, Rev was the baby, at 17 and a half when the meteor fell on Acmetropolis. Even so, Zadavia new that their choice to join the Loonatics would affect the course of their entire lives.

Not only would they be putting themselves in mortal danger, but also put a great amount of stress on their families, and if they weren't careful, could potentially put them in danger as well. Whatever plans each of the Loonatics had for their lives beforehand had to either be put on hold or permanently discontinued for the greater good. All 6 had risen to the challenge, and Zadavia couldn't be any more proud of them.

Accompanying that pride and respect, Zadavia also expected an awful lot of them very fast. Each of them had to undergo rigorous training to make sure their forms could withstand the burden of whatever attacking force came to their planet. They also had to learn how to control their newly endowed powers, which for some came easy, for others it was more difficult. At the same time as all that, they had to learn how to operate together as a team.

With all of this, one would think it would be easy to keep their living quarters clean.

To be fair, most of the time it was easy. When there wasn't a large battle or attack that diverted the 6 Loonatics attention and abandoning whatever mess had been made. Sometimes they came home they were just either too injured or exhausted to clean up what they had left. In exchange for saving the city, Zadavia could be understanding about this.

Even still, while each of the Loonatics were responsible for his/her own room, it was essential that the rest of the HQ be kept clean, for their health if nothing else.

So Here was Zadavia's predicament, did she take matters into her own hands and hire a cleaning lady? Or did she crack down even harder on the team than she already had?

After seeing the main living/kitchen area in shambles after an 'argument' between Rev and Duck, Zadavia's decision came to her rather quickly. Cleaning lady it was.

But this hired help couldn't be just anyone off the street. Like Duck liked to brag about so much, the Loonatics had collected a descent sized fan club, some that branched out for each of the members individually, and she was afraid that if she was not careful with the advertising, she would end up hiring a crazed and raving fan (Slam's fans had the tendency to be a bit rabid if left to their own devices…). That would not succeed Zadavia's goal of keeping the HQ clean, all it would do was thoroughly destroy the teams personal space and privacy.

Zadavia pulled up a template on her high tech frehelangian computer, and set about designing the perfect add.

/

Now, you are probably wondering who I am. No , I'm not any of the heroes' of this story, nor am I the afore-mentioned cleaning lady. I'll introduce you to her in a bit.

Right now I'd like to introduce myself, because as humble as I am, I pride myself in knowing that none of this entire story would have happened if I hadn't taken action when I did.

The name is Calvin, just your regular run of the mill human living in the twenty-eighth century. At 23 I was following my dreams of being a super famous fashion designer/photographer (I dream big, honey.) and living in a two bedroom flat in east side Acmetropolis.

I was and am also gay as the fourth of July. And proud of it.

It's not all that hard to tell, I don't exactly make it a habit to hide my fabness (unlike some people I know) the day this all started I was wearing custom made red skinny jeans with dark navy blue converse sneakers, and a black tank on, accentuating my lean chest perfectly with my suede jacket with faux fur lined neckline and cuffs. Sure a few guys made a few 'queer' and 'faggot' comments under their breath as I walked bye, but I just flipped them the bird cheerfully (weird I know, but that's the effect I want to be honest) and would go on my way. They were just jealous that I could pick up more girls than they could in a life time, and I'm not even interested.

I know I know, half of you are probably looking at your computer screen thinking 'where the heck is he going with this?' patience my pets, all will come in good time. In fact I think it's about time I introduce the real heroine of my story, even if at the time this all took place, she had trouble believing she was hero material.

I was coming home for a brief amount of time, dropping off a fresh roll of film before I went grocery shopping. There had been a shoot earlier that day for a new line of clothing one of my more experienced employers had, she liked me and my work and offered to pay me double my normal amount. Ya don't say 'no' to a job like that. Even if you have to get up at 6 in the freakin' morning and go (cough) anyways.

"Toooooraaaaaa!" I sang down the hall towards the room all the way at the end. I heard a bump and snickered to myself. I love my best friend dearly, but it was both hilarious and adorable to scare the crap out of her when I came home unexpectedly.

I went to investigate the damage I had caused, walking to the door at the very end fo the hall and turning the knob. I looked inside to find a relatively plain room, one or two posters positioned neatly on the walls and perfectly straight, soft pastel colors giving it a peaceful setting. A large set of dresser drawers with matching vanity was overtaken by a rather large collection of CD's and music and books. A small writing desk was tucked into the corner of the room by the closet had a small rolling chair pulled out of place under it.

The only thing about this room that seemed out rightly abnormal, was the fact that no one seemed to be there. Even though there most definitely was a sound coming from here before.

Not deterred by this, I cocked my hip to the side and folded my arms, mock scowling into the room,

"You might as well show yourself. I know you're there Tora."

There was a pause, and then as if nothing had seemed amiss before, my best friend was there, sitting at her desk. She had rematerialized after turning invisible, Clothes and all.

Cool huh? I thought so.

Tora wasn't like me, in more ways than one. She wasn't human, she was a mouse, one of the cities' many Anthros that have been around since forever. She was brown with Wavy dark hair and big and gentle brown eyes, I could go on and on about how gorgeous I thought she was, but I suppose I'm a bit biased. After all, I am her best friend/self-appointed big brother/ fashion adviser (even if she doesn't want it.) / photographer (again, usually against her will.) Besides, someone had to tell her she was beautiful, The girls confidence had gone completely down the tubes in the past few years (more on that later on, I promise)

She turned in her chair towards me, giving me a sheepish smile in apology,

"Hey Cal. How was your day?" she said softly.

I gave her a grin and plopped on her bed, stretching my arms over my head. "Fantastic, Miss Labeuff says I got great potential. I smell a second job!"

Tora smiled, her small hands folded in her lap and eyes lighting up just a bit in happiness for me, "That's great Calvin, I know how hard you've worked for this."

I beamed at her, "Damn straight!"

I leaned forward to see what it was Tora had been doing all day. Todays computerized daily news displayed on the touch screen tablet installed with most writing desks nowadays. I could see the job section, marked with small red circles randomly, a lot of them had big x's over taking them. Poor kid had been spending her day job hunting again, with little success as it looked.

The problem with Tora is that she is one of those kids who was having trouble finding her calling in life. She was 18, just finishing up high school by home schooling herself because of…events during school a few years ago, and yet she couldn't find one thing she was abnormally good at, one thing she could make a career out of.

For a while there I was afraid she was gonna be one of those paper pushers that got stuck behind a desk all day, when I knew she had so much potential to shine elsewhere ( I was just having trouble finding the WHERE) when that freaky meteor hit a year and a half ago. Then Tora suddenly started doing the whole David Copperfield thing (we both spent a good half an hour freaking out and screaming the first time she did it, mostly because she didn't know how to rematerialize immediately.) and the Loonatics showed up. Anthros, just like Tora were using their newfound powers to be superheroes and protect Acmetropolis.

The first time I saw them flying overhead in the sky, I got this feeling in my gut, and I found a smile. I had found Tora's 'elsewhere'. Now here come's the main problem, she refused to agree with me.

I leaned back on my hands and crossed my legs, lingering in the comfortable silence that had settled with both of us. Tora was leaning on her folded arms on her desk, staring at a poster of the Loonatics I had gotten her as a freebie at the local market.

I smirked, "so which one's your beau of choice?"

She must have been pretty deep in thought, because she blinked like she didn't understand the question.

"Wha?" she looked back and forth between me and the poster, and suddenly blushed a vibrant red, "N-none of them! I'm just looking at the poster!"

"Uh-huh. Are you sure? I seem to catch you looking at the Rev guy more often than not. He is kinda cute."

Tora looked mortified and shook her head vigorously, waving her hands in a telltale "no-way, no-how" fashion.

"H-His uniform is red! You know as well as I do that red is one of the colors that draws the eye the most, it has nothing to do with that really!" Her voice was cracking as she didn't usually speak all that loudly. It was adorable.

I sighed good-naturedly and reached over to pat her on the head, "I know kiddo, I'm just teasing. Settle down before ya have an aneurism."

Tora was smart, not like overly book smart, but people smart y'know? She didn't really develop a crush willy-nilly when she didn't even know the person. She would get embarrassed when I'd make her admit a guy was handsome, but other than that her feelings didn't really extend too much farther unless she had met him.

After all you could spend an eternity looking at a picture of someone famous, you could fall steadily more in love with that picture and the person you make them up to be, but in real life there's a good chance they aren't at all who you thought they'd be.

Tora had been through enough hurt already to not want to put herself through more of it.

I've known Tora since we were really little, and she's always been kind of reserved. More of an observer than a talker. She was sweet natured and timid, but gentle as a hummingbird to a flower, and I loved her for it.

But unfortunately, the world has adapted to a sort of 'dog eat dog' personality out there. Tora's nonobjective personality, accompanying the fact that she was our school systems only anthro, made her an easy target. I did my best to protect her, but there was only so much I could do being a few years apart, and I had to graduate sometime.

I can't even go into detail the amount of torture she went through that year after I did.

All I'll say is that evening had ended with her begging me, while sobbing, not to make her go back.

I didn't blame her one bit for it.

I was afraid that if I didn't act soon, I'd lose everything that was Tora before that. So I signed her up for a self-schooling program and got her out of there. But the bullying had accomplished it's goal. It had crushed her spirit.

She was terrified of people now, scared that everyone would call her a freak, even more so now with her powers. Her eyes didn't' light up like they used to. It was like she was the flame in an oil lamp, and someone had turned her down so much that she was barely flickering there anymore.

And that terrified me, because I've known, ever since we were little, that she was destined for greatness.

That's why I want her to join the Loonatics. Because I know if anyone can help Tora come out of her shell, get her light back, it was them.

She was staring at the poster again as she calmed down, and I was surprised to hear her speak.

"I really do admire them though." She said wistfully,

"Why?" I asked, not wanting to scare her away from what could potentially be a revelation,

She smiled to herself, a little sadly, "Because they aren't afraid to be who they are."

I gave her a soft look and stood, coming over to wrap my arms around her, and joined her in looking at the poster,

"…You could be up there with them you know." I gestured to how all 6 members of the Loonatics posed heroically. I tried to imagine my little Tora, standing off to the side. Small but a confident set to her shoulders instead of slumped and folded in on herself like she was now

I felt her sigh, "No Cal, I can't." We had had this conversation over and over again.

I squeezed her a little, pouting, "Why not?"

She looked sort of frustrated, more at herself than me," Number one, my power is utterly useless. I can turn invisible, great. I can hide form the bad guys, but what about my teammates?"

She moved out of my arms and gave me a deeply sorry look, "I'm not like them Cal, I'm not brave, I'm not strong. I'm a coward and I'm not going to pretend I'm anything but."

She turned resolutely back to her desk, "Let's not talk about this anymore okay? I have to keep trying to find a job."

I sighed exasperatedly, hating the way she talked about herself. I hated the people who made her believe all that crap was true, and most of all I hated how It seemed like I could do nothing to help her.

Dissatisfied, I leaned down and kissed her on the cheek, "Alright sweetie, I'll leave it alone for now," I said resignedly, "I gotta go pick up some groceries, I'll be back in around an hour."

She nodded her head with an absent 'mm-hmm' and I turned to exit the room but paused at the door, a mischievous grin on my lips,

"I still think you'd make a cute couple. You and the road runner."

Tora promptly face planted into her desk in embarrassment, her ears tinged a tomato red and I snorted.

The road runner's great great great grandson ;and Speedy Gonzalez's great great great granddaughter. A match made in heaven.

I walked out of the house at a brisk pace. It was the middle of fall, and it was starting to get nippy outside.

Inside my head was a mess of ideas, ideas for my job, ideas for what Tora could make for dinner (I cant cook worth a crap, and Tora's isn't five stars worthy but it's certainly better than fast food and whatever the heck I could muster up.)

And along with that, I was trying to think of ways to get what I wanted the most, for Tora to be happy. What can I say? I'm a stubborn guy.

As the grocery store came into view, so did a local communal holo-communications board. Ads would slide across the surface at timed intervals, it saved space and paper. Normally I bypass the cheesy ad boards, but this time, something caught my eye.

A bright blue and green ad, with yellow lettering read

**Janitorial Services Wanted.**

**Employee must be well organized, able to clean a large sized apartment, and , if the need may arise, able to cook a full meal. **

**For more information, contact (***-***-***) [1]. Doing so in private is heavily advised. **

I had taken out my cell phone and was dialing the number before I even registered what it was I wanted to do.

Before I could press 'send' I remembered what that the employer wanted me to call in private, so I ducked into a small library unit, and went towards the back, where cell phone use was permitted and so I wouldn't bother anyone else. It was a Sunday, so the library was pretty much abandoned anyways.

I pressed the send button, and waited for the call to go through. There was a dial up tone, and I flipped my phone so it was lying flat in my palm, and the hologram face of whoever picked it up could be displayed.

Imagine my surprise, when a beautiful woman with flowing blonde hair and glowing white eyes came up. In fact, it seemed like everything about this lady glowed, even the hologram she emitted made the somewhat dulled corner of the library I was in shine a little brighter.

I'd have to ask her how she did that, when I could, after all it takes a lot to dazzle me. Actually, something about this celestial looking lady looked really familiar.

"Hello Acmetropolis citizen," the woman greeted stoically, and I blinked, finally recognizing who she was.

"You're Zadavia, aren't you. You're the lady that works with the Loonatics." Whenever there was a major crisis around the city, and it seemed like the Loonatics were losing or having trouble, Zadavia's face would pop up on holo-boards and TV's alike to help them out. It wasn't as if the Loonatics were the only ones who could see it, eventually someone would have to notice her.

The woman seemed vaguely surprised, raising an eyebrow, "I am. And I presume you are the one who responded to my Ad for janitorial services."

"I-well no that was for…" I stopped and Zadavia seemed to realize I was gathering my thoughts. She waited patiently, looking bemused as I closed my eyes and let my head catch up with what was happening, what this meant.

I now had a direct link to the head behind the loonatics, something each of their fan clubs had not been able to accomplish at all in a year and a half.

I let a mischievous smile stretch across my face, this was just too. Perfect.

"Sorry about that, it's been a crazy day, had to give myself a minute to think," I apologized quickly, like it was normal, "I did call in response to your Ad, but it's not me who wants the job."

Zadavia seemed confused and even a little alarmed, but the grin never left my face, "I'm calling you on behalf of my best friend, Tora."

**Cal is such an evil little turd sometimes lol. Anyways, the first chapter is finally done. I hope everyone liked what they read. If you review, be sure to be constructive with your criticism please. Actually a review for encouragement would be nice too. Just let me know if I'm getting too long winded in my story. There's a lot of details I want to fit in there but I don't want the story to get boring. **

**Loonatics will actually show up in the next chapter, I promise. But at least they were mentioned a lot in this one.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2! Yays! We actually get to see something interesting happen in this chapter. Please enjoy : )**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Loonatics unleashed**

Ace was rarely ever thrown for a loop. He'd been surprised a few times, yes, but his sharp wit usually helped him bounce back before his opponent at that point could have the last laugh. In fact, the only time he could remember being so surprised he was speechless, was when Lexi had left with Melvin the Martian general.

The rabbit knew he was cocky, sometimes a silver tongue wasn't enough to make up for this fact. But he had never taken into account losing one of his teammates in any way would ever of happened. He supposed when he had taken on the role of leader for the team, he had made a sort of promise to himself that he'd protect each of them to the best of his ability. He may not always be able to stop them from getting hurt, but he figured at least he could keep them all together. Being separated from his teammates had never occurred to him. Some small part of him that still had a sort of naivety to it refused to accept such an outcome. So when Lexi had done it of her own free will, it just didn't compute.

All cockiness and smugness aside, Ace cared a great deal for people, especially those close to him, and especially his teammates.

So whenever Zadavia called them for a meeting, he would mentally prep himself to fight as hard as he could for them, and keep himself focused.

But the Head of the Loonatics threw him a complete curveball that nearly knocked him off his feet, as soon as the words "I have hired you a cleaning lady." Came out of her mouth.

"errr, Zadavia? Ya mind repeatin that, I don't think I hoid ya clearly." He said, doing his best to hide the slight pause in his sentence and regain his bemused nature.

Zadavia didn't seem affected by either, she merely rose an eyebrow stoically at him, Ace almost never questioned her, not even when it warranted questioning.

"You heard me correctly Ace, rest assured."

Lexi bit her lip, feeling a bit unsure about this whole thing, "But, I mean, no offense Zadavia about why?"

"Yeah-I-mean-I-know-we-can-get-messy-sometimes-but-I-never-thought-to-the-point-of-needing-help-around-the-house-even-though-I-guess-it-would-be-helpful-and-stuff-I-mean-what-if-their-bad-guys-in-disguise-or-even-worse-one-of-those-scary-obsesseive-fans!" Rev rambled, looking kind of nervous,

Zadavia smiled fondly down at him, "That won't be a problem Rev, I have taken the necessary precautions to make sure that the cleaning lady is in fact who she says to be, and have also managed to get the ad out without gaining the-um-more enthusiastic citizens attention. I have done a thorough background check on the applicant and also plan on interviewing her tomorrow before I introduce her. Does that sound fair enough to you?"

"pppttttnngbl gblaarrhhng ppptttt me." Slam shrugged his consent, ever the easy going (for the most part) Loonatic and instead worried more about when dinner was going to be.

Tech pondered for a moment as Zadavia displayed the ad she had used to get a cleaning lady's attention, "Your plan seems solid enough Zadavia, so I'll go along with it. But whoever she is, I don't want her in my lab. For her safety as much as ours." He said firmly.

Zadavia nodded, "I understand. She will be employed to clean the more public areas of the Headquarters, such as the lounge area, the kitchen, and the hallways. Your own rooms will continue to be your own responsibility. As well as any other areas you would rather she leave alone, you need only tell her."

Zadavia took in the wary looks the Loonatics gave her and she sighed, "Understand that this is not a punishment in anyway, Loonatics, I merely thought you could use the help when you are out protecting Acmetropolis."

"We undastand dat Zadavia," Ace reassured her, "It's just we werent expectin this."

Duck scoffed, "If ya ask me this is a blessing, I don't have to wash Slam's Dishes anymore cuz his hands are too big!"

Slam chuckled deeply in his throat. No sooner than he did, the alarms started to go off, and Zadavia looked at her off screen map of the city to locate the trouble. She sighed,

"One of the Fuz-z monsters the zoo has broken out of its cage again. Better go help them out Loonatics. I will be there with the applicant tomorrow, at noon. Zadavia, out."

With that the glowing holo-picture of the Frehelngian princess dispersed, and the Loonatics didn't have time to worry about her decision anymore.

"Alright guys, discussion to be continued. Let's jet." Ace made a 'come on' gesture with his arm and swiftly made his way towards tech's lab for the 'toys.'

/

So that was how the Loonatics reacted to this whole thing. Unfortunately, as great as I am, I don't exactly have the poise and calm that Zadavia has. So when I broke the news to Tora that I had sort of gotten her a job without her consent as the Loonatics cleaning lady, it didn't go down as well as I would have hoped.

She started choking on the delicious spaghetti she had made, and I had to slap her on the back a few times before her squeaky flustered voice could gasp, "You did WHAT?"

I did my best to give her a sheepish grin, but I was just too goddamn proud of myself ot even feign guiltiness.

"Cal, I thought we talked about this!" Uh oh, her arms were flailing. The flailing of limbs usually signaled a panic attack with Tora. Which meant I needed to diffuse the situation as soon as possible.

"No, I talked Tora but you didn't listen. So I had to take action, you know me."

Tora grimaced, "I…I won't go." She stuttered out awkwardly. She knew she wasn't assertive in any way, and she knew whenever I forced situations on her like this it was for her own good. So I didn't even need to respond, other than an unimpressed raised eyebrow, for her to know she had lost the battle. I think she knew if I wanted her there, even if I had to sling her over my shoulder and carry her, she'd get there.

Tora's hands fisted her oversized t shirt (one I absolutely loathe.) nervously and her big brown eyes searched mine for mercy,

"Caaaaalll!" she pleaded, exasperated

I rolled my eyes, "TorAAAaaaaAAA" I said back.

I didn't know how long I had to play hardball with her, but after a moment Tora looked down dejectedly at her lap, her oversized mouse ears drooping in defeat. I was alarmed to see her shoulders shaking a bit,

My god, she was seriously terrified, wasn't she?

I kneeled so I was at eye level with her, taking her hands in mine. I was soft and sensitive Cal again,

"C'mon Tora it's not as bad as all that."

"How would you know," Tora muttered, "You aren't the freak about to be laughed out of the Loonatics because her power is stupid…"

I squeezed her hand, "Tora, sweetie, you're just the cleaning lady right now. I haven't even told them you have powers."

Tora's head snapped up, her watery eyes shining with hope.

I smiled and shrugged, "I want you to join the team, but I'm not gonna go advertising something you're obviously sensitive about. I'm just gonna give you a little push until _you_ make the choice to tell them."

"R-really? You promise I won't have to tell them?" She said meekly, Peaking up at me from under the piece of hair that had flopped in front of her eyes.

I brushed it back and tucked it behind her ear, pulling a bobby pin out of my pocket (fixing her hair for her was a natural occurrence for the both of us.)

"Not until you're ready."

Tora's eyes narrowed in a way that I suppose meant she was thinking 'yeeah, that's not gonna happen.' She rubbed her eyes, finally seeming to deflate from her brief rise of panic.

Now that the danger had passed, I sauntered over to the girl's closet and opened it, planting my hands on my hips in confidence,

"Now the fun part! Picking out your outfit for the interview tomorrow!"

I heard the girl groan behind me and flop onto her bed, and I snickered.

/

The next day, I walked with Tora to the designated meeting place. I had managed to wrestle her in cute, but reasonably quiet outfit. Just blue jeans and skater shoes with a salmon pink baby doll dress and a green shrug. Normally, I would have tried to get her into a dress, but the kid was feeling self-conscious enough already.

In fact, she had gone from walking beside me, to walking behind me and clutching my shirt, as if she wanted to hide underneath it. Unfortunately I was wearing a vest, so her plan wouldn't work too well.

"Geez kiddo, it's just a job interview, no biggie."

"I'm sorry." She mumbled as we finally walked through the doors to the small office building. Apparently according to Zadavia we would be borrowing one of the conference rooms, and from there she would take Tora to the headquarters if she was deemed worthy of being the cleaning lady. To be honest I didn't see the point in all this secrecy, Tora was a pretty open book to read.

As we waited for her to come and greet us, Tora gradually emerged from hiding behind me to standing at my side, but she kept a firm grip on my shirt sleeve. I wanted to grab her hand and squeeze it in reassurance. I didn't want Zadavia to think I was babying her though, or that Tora needed babying.

The mechanical doors swung open with a 'swoosh' and out stepped a tall, beautiful woman. Minus the glowing part.

I strutted forward, reaching out a hand for her to shake while Tora shuffled behind me, staring at her toes.

"Nice to see you again Miss Zadavia," I took a moment to observe her outfit, which was mostly covered with a thick maroon cloak, but I could just make out a simple lilac dress, "Love the cloak. Gives you a mysterious look."

The lady blinked but smiled, "I thank you for saying so Mr. Hodger."

I grimaced, "Just Calvin, please, or Cal is even better."

"Cal then, I presume this is Miss Tora, the friend you said was looking for a job?" Zadavia glanced down at Tora, who peaked up at her shyly.

Thank god Zadavia's an observant person, that and I had warned her about Tora's timid nature before the meeting took place. So she thankfully gave the mouse a soft smile, "Hello Tora, my name is Zadavia. It's a pleasure to meet you."

She reached out a hand, and I was relieved to see Tora hesitantly stick hers out as well.

Zadavia could barely feel a small squeeze form Tora when they shook hands, it was gentle and sweet. You couldn't fake something like that, not easily anyway. This girl was no crazed fan in disguise, nor a threat.

"A-a pleasure to meet you too m-miss Zadavia, ma'am" Tora stuttered nervously.

Zadavia smiled again, and noticed how hard Tora was pinching my sleeve,

"I'll give you two a moment, then Tora if you will follow me into this next room, we can begin our interview."

With that, She walked through another set of swooshing doors to our right, and I had the chance to take Tora by the shoulders and turn her towards me.

"You're going to be okay." I stated, not leaving room for doubt. I hoped it would have the same effect on Tora, who was looking sort of sick to her stomach.

"I'm all in knots, Cal.." she whispered, wrapping her arms around her mid-section, confirming my thoughts.

I rubbed her arms in a comforting way, "That's normal for a first day of work. Just trust me when I say you'll do great. I've never steered you wrong before, have I?"

Tora shook her head no and I grinned, Kissing her forehead, "I love ya kiddo, I'll see you later on tonight. Keep your chin up, and remember to smile!" I emphasized my point by stretching the corners of my lips up, and she giggled.

I forced myself to walk away then, even though I could feel her staring after me like a kicked puppy. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, leaving her when she was obviously scared to death.

I felt like a mom sending her kid off to her first day of school. I couldn't hold her hand and protect her forever, no matter how much I might want to. Someday, she was going to have to learn how to stand up for herself, and I would be there to support her on the sidelines.

/

She would be the last to admit it out loud, but Lexi sort of agreed with Duck that maybe this whole cleaning lady thing was a good thing. It finally meant there was another female around, besides Zadavia, and Zadavia herself was usually too busy to really talk or hang out.

And as much as Lexi loved the boys, there was only so much of them she could take at a time without feeling she was slowly becoming one of them. Lexi prided herself on having a good balance between girly and tomboy.

The rest of the team had been mulling it over as well. Slam was the first to not mind, because like Duck he thought having someone clean for him was amazing. The poor woman, whoever she was, had her work cut out for her. Ace had been meditating and training all day, but he usually did that anyways, so the female bunny could only assume he was just going with the flow at this point. Tech didn't mind having a cleaning lady as long as his 'babies' were safe. And they all knew ducks opinion,

That left Rev.

Lexi blinked when she felt a strong wind blow past and around her as said road runner came careening into the lounge area. The bunny smiled and quickly unhooked her headphones from her ears so she could at least pretend to listen to whatever Rev had to say.

"Hey-Lexi-so-i-was-wondering-what-you-thought-about-having-a-new-cleaning-lady-i-mean-i-guess-its-kinda-cool-i-mean-finally-there'll-be-someone-else-who-can-run-the-dishwasher-and-zadavia-said-she-would-make-sure-they-arent-crazy-or-evil-but-do-you-think-she'll-be-one-of-those-old-crusty-cleaning-ladies-like-you-see-in-cartoons?-Or-do-you-think-she'll-be-our-age,-or-even-a-guy-I-mean-i-feel-like-people-automatically-assume-cleaning-help-are-women-but-there-are-tons-of-janitors-out-there-"

Lexi reached out and clamped his beak shut, like she had seen tech do so many times, and laughed.

"Rev,REV! Calm down already, I'm not sure how old she's gonna, or even if she is a, well, 'she'. Either way let just worry about making them feel welcome, Kay?"

Rev nodded, which was hard to do since Lexi was still holding his beak, and she finally let go. As she did the rest of the team walked through the door,

"Zadavia just sent word; she's bringing the cleaning lady up for intros." Ace said, leaning on the pool table next to Lexi.

All of them settled themselves in the lounge and waited, and it wasn't long until there was a tone, and the doors slide open.

"_Identification received, Welcome: Zadavia and guest." _The computerized voice spoke monotonously as Zadavia walked through the doorway, smiling.

"Hello Loonatics." She said fondly.

"Heya, Zadavia," Ace said smirking, "Ah, no offense Zadavia, but ya seem to be short a cleaning lady to introduce."

Zadavia blinked and looked to her side. Indeed she seemed to be alone. She leaned back to look in the hallway, and smiled, looking bemused.

"Come along then, young one, they won't bite."

There was a pause as the Loonatics waited, and slowly, to them, a young girl mouse stepped hesitantly around the doorway. Her hands fiddled with each other and she had trouble meeting any of them in the eye.

None of them had any idea how hard her heart was beating then, and how close she was to bolting back down the hallway and out the way she had come.

'_What am I doing here?!'_ Tora silently screamed at herself, '_This was a mistake, I don't think I can handle this!' _

Don't get her wrong, she was happy to meet her heroes. But on the other hand, the prospect of meeting anyone new, heroes or not, terrified her beyond reason.

The Loonatics stared for a moment, sizing her up (unintentionally making her anxiety worse.) She had brown fur and black hair, and she was tiny, only about as tall as Duck.

Ace was the first to break the trance and smile at the poor girl, who was sweating bullets and praying they wouldn't notice.

Zadavia smiled as well, "Well Loonatics, I would like you to meet Tora, She will be taking care of the custodial duties around the more public areas of the Headquarters. If you have anything specific you would like her help in cleaning, all you need to do is ask her."

Wanting to give the younger crowd a chance to get to know one another, Zadavia decided to take her leave. However, she did give Tora a discreet and gentle push forward at the back, trying to be helpful.

"I will call if there is any trouble," she informed the team as she walked out. With a swoosh the doors closed behind her, and Tora was left alone with even more people she didn't know.

She gulped, looking down at her feet and trying to find her words. She wanted to say it was a pleasure to meet all of them, but all that was coming out of her throat were awkward little squeaks.

Lexi thought it was adorable.

She came forward, intended on rescuing the new girl from the silence that had settled over them,

"Hey Tora love your dress, very cute. My name's Lexi."

Tora glanced up at her hesitantly, but had a hard time making eye contact. She simply nodded, "T-thank you. It's nice to meet you Miss Lexi."

Before Lexi could even voice her opinion on that, Ace made a negative noise in his throat from behind her,

"Alright, first rule, drop da 'Miss' and 'Mista' thing. Just call us by name. Like Zadavia said, we don't bite," He reached over Lexi's shoulder and took Tora's hand from where it still hovered anxiously by her heart. He shook it firmly, not minding how limp hers was.

"Name's Ace, kid, nice ta meet ya."

Tora seemed taken aback, but she swallowed and tried to regain what little ground she had, "L-Likewise, Ace."

Slam was next to attempt to introduce himself. The big guy had a certain affinity for things smaller than him, so instead of shaking Tora's hand, he patted her on the head. As gently as he could to avoid hurting her of course,

"Aww, gblarr rhhng Slam!" The Tasmanian devil said, grinning. Tora squeaked when his large hand had come down on her head, but soon relaxed when it appeared he wasn't going to hurt her.

"Tech .E. Coyote, at your service little lady," Tech said, shaking a very flustered Tora's hand. He immediately felt a sort of kinship to Tora. He had been shy once upon a time too, after all. Even now he had his anti-social moments. That was usually when either rev or some other member of the team would drag him from his lab and physically make him spend time with them.

Before Tora could even respond to either him or slam, someone was pushing a piece of paper into her hands. She looked down, surprised to see a freshly autographed picture of Danger Duck.

For the first time, she was able to look a Loonatic in the eye, but it was to give him a somewhat bewildered look as he smirked,

"As an official employee of the Loonatics, I thought I would be charitable and give you a free autograph from 'the' Danger Duck. Usually you have to go online to get those you know."

"Oh. I….see." Tora trailed off awkwardly. She kept the picture to be polite, but Duck was a bit put it out when she all but crumpled it into her small handbag, "I-it's nice to meet you Danger Duck,"

"Just Duck." Everyone said before The mallard could bask in his would-be glory.

Suddenly her hand was grabbed by a red and black blur, it took her a moment to figure out that it was rev. mostly because once he had grabbed her hand he was shaking it so hard her entire body seemed to vibrate.

"Hey-Tora-i'm-Rev-its-nice-to-meet-you-,so-have-you-always-wanted-to-be-a-cleaning-lady-or-is-it-just-a-part-time-job-I-had-a-part-time-job-once-but-I-was-too-slow-,but-now-im-faster-,and-ive-got-a-much-better-job-,gosh-your-a-lot-younger-than-I-thought-you-would-be-,I-was-just-telling-Lexi-how-I-wasn't-sure-if-you-would-be-old-like-in-cartoons-but-you're-really-tiny-but-for-a-mouse-I-guess-that's-normal-but-if-i-had-to-guess-you'd-be-around-my-age-which-is-18-hey-isnt-that-cool-we're-the-same-age!" Rev said excitedly.

Tora looked at the other Loonatics for help. She only followed for about half of that before she was lost, and she was concerned for how long he had been holding her hand, _and he wasn't letting go_, and she was still vibrating, and-

Oh god, she hoped she wasn't blushing.

Finally Tech had the sense to pry Rev's hands off hers,

"I think she's got the message, Rev," he said bemusedly, before turning to Tora, "Welcome to Headquarters Tora. Do you need someone to show you around?"

Tora opened her mouth to respond, but Lexi cut her off,

"I'll do it!" the female bunny chirped, grabbing Tora by the arm excitedly and dragging her out of the room.

For the next hour Tora was given a thorough tour of the Loonatic headquarters, something she thought she could only dream of doing. But then the alarms went off again and the team had left her to work. Thankfully Lexi had had the foresight to show her the supply closet when the tour began.

Now Tora didn't mind cleaning and cooking, in fact they were the only two things she was reasonably good at. But, well, let's just say Slam had had lunch before they left.

She had her work cut out for her.

By the end of the day, when every dish was washed, every hallway vacuumed and dusted, and no sign of the Loonatics coming home, Tora cooked them a dinner of chicken and steamed vegetables.

They hadn't told her to do so, but well, she wanted them to have a good meal when they came home from saving the day. It was the least she could do for protecting the city.

Finally, after laying out the dishes for them to come home to, Tora tiredly dragged herself home. She suspected as she got more used to the job, it would get easier. Actually, being tired instead of restless for once was a nice change.

She had just enough energy to eat the dinner I had ordered for her before she slumped into her room and flopped onto her bed, turning off her light even though she was still in her day clothes.

The mouse girl wrapped her arms around a pillow and curled her body around it, enjoying how soft and warm it was (she's a mouse, she likes to snuggle.) and reflected on her day.

She had gotten to meet her heroes; she had seen where they lived, where they went about their day to day lives.

It was incredible.

And they had all been so nice….

A sudden spike of panic ran through Tora, and she squeezed the pillow tighter, scolding herself.

'_They're your employers, Tora,'_ she chided silently, '_Not friends. Getting too familiar with them is just going to bother them. That's a distraction that could cost whoever they are saving's lives. I won't be the cause of more misfortune.'_

Her somewhat good mood had turned sour, all in just a few thoughts. And what was worse, it had been her own fault that it had happened.

Tora released her hold partially on the pillow but still clutched it to her. Her chest had that achey feel to it whenever she wanted to cry. But she had done enough crying for a lifetime. She didn't want to cry anymore.

So she turned on her side and pushed her feelings away as best she could. '_I'm a big girl now...time to stop deluding myself.'_

Nonetheless,that night she dreamed that she was braver, stronger, happier. She dreamed she was a Loonatic, helping people every day.

She dreamed of a place where she would feel like she belonged.

**Aww man Tora, you're breaking my ticker! (hugs Tora) Sorry if things got kinda emo there at the last part. But that's what the Loonatics are around, **

**Tech: besides saving the world I presume you mean..**

**Me: ahem, yeah. But hopefully the next chapter they can help Tora gain at least a little confidence.**

**I also apologize if I missed any grammar or spelling mistakes. I don't have a beta at the moment and I can't always catch them on my own. If anyone would like to beta the story, and can get the chapters back to me at a decent time, I'd be incredibly appreciative : )**


	3. Chapter 3

**Third chapter! Wow, this story's gotten so many views in such a short time. I'm so happy! =^^=**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Loonatics Unleashed.**

Two weeks flew by. Tora would go to work each morning, usually a little after ten when the Loonatics were usually busy, and would leave a little before they got back. Every so often trouble didn't strike the city, and Tora was forced to dodge all six members in the headquarters as she worked.

She had sworn to herself that while she was working there, she wouldn't get in anyone's way. She wouldn't bother them by trying to make conversation. Really, her goal was get in, clean, get out. To my eternal frustration, this plan had worked for a while now, to the point where the Loonatics were beginning to forget they even had a cleaning lady.

Until of course they got home to a warm meal, that Tora was now cooking religiously for them.

Once, Duck had managed to spot her while she was sweeping one of the corridors, way at the end while he stood at the opposite end."

"Hey! Kid!" He called out. Truth be told he hadn't meant to sound so accusatory when he did, but since he was Duck that was just how he talked most of the time.

Tora jumped, and before he could say anything else, she grabbed her cleaning supplies and scurried around the corner. He scoffed, not even bothering to quack after her, and folded his arms moodily.

Tech, who had poked his head out of his lab in curiosity, came forward to stand next to him, staring at the direction Tora had run off in,

"She's certainly a skittish little thing, isn't she?" He said, raising an eyebrow at Duck who huffed,

"She's weird, that's what she is. She acts like I'm gonna attack her if I so much as look at her!" He rolled his eyes, when he recalled how she had acted when they all had met her, "It's getting annoying."

Tech would have responded angrily, but then he remembered it was Duck he was talking to.

He narrowed his eyes at him, "Don't be so quick to judge, I'm sure Tora has her reasons for being the way she is."

Duck snorted, "I can understand her being overwhelmed by my greatness, but Tech, the kid's legs were knocking together when we were just introducing ourselves!" He waved a hand flippantly through the air, "She's not a mouse, she's a fuzzy maraca!"

Tech pinched his brow and took deep breathes, willing himself to try and break through to the waterfowl, "Did you ever consider that not everyone likes to be the center of attention, like you?"

Duck stared at him, "…nope."

Tech smacked his forehead, he gave up. He walked back into his lab and left Duck alone, wondering if the duck had always been this obtuse.

He didn't see Duck give a quick glance over his shoulder, in the direction Tora had run off in, looking debatably thoughtful. He huffed once more and walked away, but he was strangely quiet.

Similar situations happened every now and again. A Loonatic would see Tora, try and say hello, only for the girl to either run away with her cleaning supplies, or squeak and cower slightly until whoever it was went on their way.

Rev and Slam seemed to be interpreting it as a game. Both would see how close they could get to Tora without startling her, and when they did, would try and catch her when she'd run away. However whenever they turned a corner she had run down, or opened a doorway, there'd be no one in sight (troll face X3)It had all of them rather puzzled to be honest.

"It's-like-EXTREME-hide-and-go-seek!" Rev told Ace one day excitedly. Ace nodded to humor his young friend, but on the inside he was somewhat concerned. What could be making the young mouse so frightened?

He decided to do some investigating when he got the chance. That chance came one day when one of the-er-less experienced villains had his plan, literally, blow up in his face. The electromagnetic missiles he was using short circuited in the torrential rain that had overtaken the city for the past few hours. The team had gotten he rest of the day off (so far) and were heading back about 2 hours earlier than they usually did. They were glad to be out of what was gradually escalating into a storm.

When they were walking in the lounge area doors, Tora was just finishing up, gathering as many trash bags she could in her hands to drop them off in the dumpster on her way out. She had a waistcoat already wrapped tightly around her in preparation for the dismal weather. As she turned around from the kitchen, humming to herself quietly, she nearly dropped everything in surprise. She hadn't been expecting them to be home after all.

After weeks of trying to catch her, Slam and Rev were elated to finally have this chance.

Slam thankfully had enough sense to know that if he barreled into the room, bad things would happen. He did stand his massive form in front of the door so she couldn't make a getaway though.

Rev, however, had no qualms about speeding into the room with an 'Aha!'

Before Tora could really process what was happening, Rev ran around her in a circle then had tackled her (in a way that wouldn't hurt her) and was currently holding her kinda like a young kid would hold a teddy bear in his arms. "Gotcha! Wow-you-are-really-good-at-hide-and-seek-you-know-that?It-took-us-FOREVER-to-catch-you!"

Tora was struggling to keep from fainting, and squirmed in Rev's arms to try and escape, "P-please put me down." She finally said meekly, the fur on her face dulled her blush somewhat, but the soft skin of the inside of her ears was tinged a bright red. So everyone in the room could see just how embarrassed she was.

Lexi was giggling behind her hand and Ace smirked "Rev? Release."

Rev shrugged, and set Tora back on her feet. He wasn't really sure what she was getting so bent out of shape for, it was just a game after all.

Tora stumbled away as best she could, feeling a bit weak at the knees. Tech finally was able to steady her by putting a hand on her shoulder and having her stand still. She gave him a grateful, yet still nervous glance.

"What's up doc?" Ace asked, the young mouse hurried to pick up the garbage bags she had dropped.

"I-I-um, j-just taking out the garbage. I-I'm all done so I'll get out of your way now." She squeaked, talking so fast they half wondered if some of rev's powers had rubbed off on her. She attempted to make her exit, but Slam was still standing in the doorway, looking distracted.

He made a happy growl-like grumble and turned towards the kitchen, where two pots of hot stew stood steaming and ready for the Loonatics.

"You made dinner again!" Lexi said, overjoyed. Truth be told, all of the Loonatics looked forward to coming home to Tora's cooking. She wasn't a professional no, but it had a certain charm to it.

It tasted like home, which is what they wanted.

Tora blushed again, looking down at her feet and shuffling awkwardly, "Y-yes…i-I thought stew would be good since it was such a cold day and-"

"What kind? There's no meat in it right?" Duck interrupted her rudely

"Uh-well-no, I-I made two kinds, one with meat and one without so that everyone would be happy." Her voice got softer and softer under ducks scrutiny until finally it had been reduced to a squeak.

Lexi rolled her eyes at Duck, whacking him upside the head,

"Ow! Whaaat?" He whined, rubbing the back of his head and glaring at the female bunny

"What he _means_ is, we really appreciate it Tora, it smells terrific," As she spoke she took the garbage bags out of Tora's hands and pushed them at Duck, "And he's going to return the favor by taking out the garbage for you."

"What?!" Duck asked again, incredulously.

"N-no that's alright, I'll do it! It's my job after all," Tora stuttered in alarm, not wanting Duck to dislike her any more than he seemed to already. She reached to retrieve the garbage bags from Duck, but Ace cut her off, putting an arm around her shoulder and steering her away. It left Duck somewhat deflated,

"So! Tora, think you'll join us for dinnah?" Ace's amused Brooklyn accent soon left the mallard behind, and he huffed.

"Oh whatever," He quaked to the dumpster outside quickly and quaked back in, shivering from the rain that had drenched him in a few seconds. He scowled at Tech and Lexi, who were snickering at him, "You're all despicable." He grumbled.

Tora, in the meantime, was getting steadily more overwhelmed. She had already taken up enough of her heroes time, but they wouldn't let her leave!

"I-I can't, C-Cal will be worried if I don't go home soon," she said in answer to Ace's question before, "S-so if you'll excuse me." She tried to duck out from under The rabbit's arm and towards the door, but a sudden harsh ring from Tora's cellphone startled them all into frozen silence.

Tora flushed and turned away from all of them, knowing how rude it was to talk on the phone when in the presence of others,

"Cal? What is it?" she said into the speaker. Tora didn't require a whole lot of service when it came to phone, so hers wasn't as high tech as mine, it worked like a modern phone from 2012 (shudders) the dark ages practically.

"Hey sweetie," I greeted back, "Listen, I don't think you should walk back tonight. The weather's getting pretty dicey out there."

A strange mix of dread and a brief glimmer of excitement dripped into the bottom of Tora' stomach, "W-what do you mean?"

I sighed, audibly exasperated from the other line, "I mean, stay with the Loonatics for tonight. It's safer than you going out in this storm."

"What?" She squeaked.

I could see how fast this conversation was gonna go. And Tora would use any excuse in the book not to stay, and use it against me. So I had to go blow the belt on this one.

"Put me on speaker phone." I stated flatly

"W-why?" Tora asked warily, she could tell I was up to something.

"Put .Me .On. Speaker. Phone." I said deliberately, all no-nonsense-ish, like real grownups do. It worked, I heard Tora whimper a little in apprehension, but she pressed the button for speaker phone.

"Hey Loonatics, Cal here." I could almost feel the disbelieving stare Tora was sending the phone with how causally I said that, "Is the rabbit guy there?"

"Da name's Ace," Said rabbit guy answered, "Nice ta finally meet ya Cal. What can I do ya for?" the rest of the Loonatics looked up from what they were doing to listen in.

"Listen. I'll be blunt so I don't waste your time or mine. I don't want Tora outside in the storm, she didn't bring a water proof coat with her, and this may be speculation, but the wind might just blow her away. So under no circumstances is she to go out of that tower until the storm is over."

Tora was so embarrassed she didn't even try to hide it anymore. She couldn't turn invisible with the Loonatics all staring at her, so she did the next best thing. She grabbed her somewhat overly-large mouse ears and pulled them down so they covered her eyes. Ace just chuckled,

"Gotcha, we were just tryin ta convince her to eat wit us. Dis seems like da poifect excuse."

Lexi wrapped an arm around Tora and tried to make her stop hiding in her ears, "Yeah, you can bunk with me,"

"I-I couldn't put you through that much trouble." The mouse girl said softly, ears drooping to an ever lower level than they already were.

The sight made Lexi's heart melt, and she gave the younger girl a gentle smile, "It's no trouble, I promise you Tora. We'll finally get to hang out this way!"

Tora stared up at her shyly, "R-really?"

Lexi nodded, feeling like she was finally making a breakthrough, "Of course! Would you like that?"

Everybody was silent for a moment while Tora looked down at her hands anxiously. This was a crucial moment.

"Yes." Tora said softly, her hands hovering in front of her mouth apprehensively as she waited for Lexi's reply.

No one knew it of course, but I started doing a happy dance when I heard that on my side of the phone. The best thing was that Rev actually started doing the same thing on the Loonatics end, clapping his hands and everything XD.

"Oh-oh-oh!we-should-totally-all-hang-out-in-the-lounge-tonight-and-have-a-sleepover-,course-we-don't-have-to-do-that-if-you-don't-want-to-tora-,but-we-could-make-smores-and-watch-movies-and-tell-ghost-stories-and-it'll-be-sweet-sweet-sweet!"

Tora leaned back a little from the enthusiastic road runner, looking a bit intimidated. She looked at Lexi for help, and the older girl laughed, "Yeah, there's always that option too."

"Sounds like a fun time!" I said, reminding them all that I was still on the line, "I'd stop over too but y'know, the storm and all. That and I've got a shoot tomorrow. See you soon, Tora, sweetie!" and I hung up, giddy knowing the fact that Tora had finally been trapped-cough- I mean convinced to hang out with the Loonatics.

Ace handed Tora back her phone, and the poor girl looked at it like she still wasn't sure how what just happened, happened.

Tech chuckled beside her, "Well, that's that then. Now I think we're all hungry, so let's eat!"

Lexi pulled an extra chair out of a storage unit (the futuristic closet of sorts) and set it up next to her at the table. After serving themselves, they all sat down to eat. But something made tech pause, with his spoon raised.

"Tora," He started, giving the girl a skeptic look, "Is that all you're eating?"

Tora looked down at her plate. She had spooned herself maybe a cup's worth of veggie stew, it didn't really take up half of her plate whereas everyone else's was full.

"Yes." She said simply, not really sure what else to say. Tora was tiny, and often wouldn't eat much left on her own. Not because she didn't want to, just because she didn't always want to stop what she was doing because she was hungry. Which often meant she'd go for hours before eating without even noticing how hungry she was.

Confused? Try living with it.

"Eh, probably should eat a little more Tora, ya been cleanin all day." Ace said, taking a sip of his stew from his spoon, "Mm, have some faith in yer own cookin!"

Tora flushed, looking down at her plate and pushing a carrot around, "Y-you've all been working much harder than I have. Saving the city almost every day can't be easy. A-and I'm not really all that-"

Before she could finish her sentence when a colossal spoonful of stew was slopped onto her plate, to the point where the broth nearly spilled over the edge. Slam grinned at her like he just solved the world problems with such a simple problem, and pointed at his mouth, indicating for her to eat.

Duck tried to hold it in, he really did. But the look on the kid's face was priceless. He snorted which soon turned into hysterical laughter. It didn't take long for that to become contagious for the other Loonatics, and soon enough all six of them were doubled over with laughter.

At first Tora felt her timidly growing comfort level with the Loonatics plummet. They were laughing at her? But she had been so careful, what did she do wrong? She could feel herself shrinking, a light twinge of the old ache in her chest returning.

But something was different. This didn't seem like the type of laughter she would hear in the halls at school, it wasn't secretive and sinister. It wasn't cruel. It was just good honest laughter, untainted and joyful. Is this what it meant by laughing with her, not laughing at her?

But she wasn't laughing.

That was when Tora took a look at the entire internal conversation she was having with herself. And how ridiculously complicated she was making everything.

She couldn't help herself, she giggled, holding a hand over her mouth to try and quiet it, but they eventually grew until it was audible for the now quieting Loonatics to hear.

They froze and stared, at a sight so welcome, and so beautiful.

Tora was _smiling_

For once, the mouse girl's ears weren't lowered warily, But upright like a mouse's should be, meaning she was happy. And her eyes were closed with mirth instead of looking at the ground sadly and timidly. And her laugh and smile, none of them could shake the feeling that the room had gotten a little brighter when it had joined them.

"Well well, there it is." Ace said quietly

"W-what?" Tora looked around her an above her, probably thinking it was a bug or something.

"We finally got ya to smile, kiddo." Ace answered, grinning at her

Tora blinked, perplexed that they were all happy with something so small and normal.

She gave them another shy and hesitant smile, just to experiment. She was startled when Lexi yanked her into a hug, her arms flailed a little.

"Oooh, that's it! You're too cute for words!" The female bunny shouted, squeezing tighter. Tora patted her arm, not really sure if hugging back would be too pretentious at this point.

The rest of the meal went by relatively uninterrupted. Tora managed to finish most of her plate, but she felt incredibly full afterwards. It wasn't a bad feeling per say, it wasn't to the point where she felt sick. Just content.

She was surprised, not unpleasantly so, when the Loonatics started setting up blankets and pillows in various places in the room. She had thought maybe they had been joking when Rev had stated his sleepover idea, but apparently they had taken it to heart. She couldn't help but feel happy.

How often did you get to have a sleepover with the people you admire most?

They watched a movie, and Rev even got to have his smores during it. Halfway through the second movie, pretty much everyone had fallen asleep with the exception of Lexi and Ace.

Tech had passed out in a bean bag chair, a blanket draped over his lap and his head tipped back as he snored. Duck was beside him, on the other bean bag, an eye mask over his eyes and mumbling something about Misty Breeze.

Slam was in the very middle, his hulking form rising and falling in his sleep. Tora was next to him, and Rev was next to her (everyone but Rev and Duck seemed to notice how nervous she got when the Road runner plopped himself down beside her.)

Being a mouse, Tora instinctively curled up in the blanket that Lexi had provided her, and was gradually moving towards the warmest source near her, which happened to be Slam.

One thing a lot of people don't know about Rev, is that he is an incredibly restless sleeper, often changing position in a matter of seconds. When he was younger, his parents were afraid that it would disturb their other son, rip, who was just an infant at the time (they shared a room for a few years.) They discovered rather quickly, that if Rev had something to latch onto while he slept, the restlessness went away. So for a long time Rev had a teddy bear, but he didn't bring it with him to Headquarters, obviously.

But tonight there was a small and fuzzy presence beside him, and he reached out to wrap and arm around it and pull it to him before it could move to far away. Whether or not he was aware of it or not, we still aren't certain. Tora sleepily shifted at the change in position, but soon relaxed, apparently her instincts decided Rev was warm enough.

Ace looked down from where he was sitting on the couch with a raised eyebrow. He nudged Lexi with his elbow and gestured towards the site.

The female bunny barely repressed a giggle, seeing her newest friend being snuggled like a life-size teddy bear by her fast talking friend.

"So cute." She whispered, and Ace chuckled.

"Least we made some progress today. Hopefully the kid won't run away from us at sight anymore." He whispered.

Lexi yawned, nodding sleepily and rubbing her eyes. Ace noticed and moved to get off the couch,

"Here, you sleep on da couch. I'll take the floor." He sat with his back pressed up against the arm of the couch, Lexi laid down so her head was a little ways away from his.

"Such a gentleman." Lexi commented teasingly.

"I have my moments." Ace smirked at her.

Lexi smiled back, shifting so her forehead touched his shoulder while she fell asleep. It was as close to snuggling that she dared go, and just that small bit of contact was enough to lull her to sleep.

Ace glanced at her over his shoulder, and smiled warmly,

"G'night Lex." He whispered.

He glanced once more at the rest of his team, making sure they were all safe and sound, before he closed his eyes and let himself drift to sleep as well.

**O.O Oh my glob! I can't believe I wrote that! Fluff fluffers everywhere. Hopefully I didn't go overboard with the RevxTora, but I did add a little Acelexi at the end. Like I said at the start, I don't know if Tora's still developing feelings for Rev are going to be one sided or not. It's been proven that Rev is a lot more intelligent than people tend to give him credit for despite his innocent and naïve personality. He could have a good idea of what he's doing to Tora, or he could not, im gonna leave that up to your interpretation, dear reader ; ) **

**Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter. Let me know what you think if you find you have the time =^^=**


	4. Chapter 4

**Four chapter down, let's do this thing! Again, I apologize for any mistakes I might overlook in this next document.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Loonatics unleashed.**

Many people would say that complete silence would make them antsy, even a little claustrophobic. Many would purposefully avoid being in one place that was overly quiet and empty, because it can seem very lonely after a few hours.

Tora was not one of these people.

She reveled in the silence, especially in the quiet halls and corridors of the empty Loonatics headquarters. When no one was around, she was able to be alone with her most private and powerful thoughts and feelings, and not be embarrassed by them. She would clean everywhere she could, humming and singing (somewhat off-key) or dancing. Comforted with the knowledge that the only ones who would know were herself and her echo.

It had been a few, blissful weeks since the sleepover that the Loonatics had half-hazardly organized that stormy day. Since then the mouse had gotten a little more comfortable around them, not fleeing upon sight anymore. She would still jump if one approached her out of the blue, but gradually, she would start to smile at them more. She began to look forward to catching a glimpse of them every morning when she came in to work, and every evening when she left. A comfortable distance, not trapped, but not cut off either. It was a safe distance, for both parties.

In Tora's opinion, anyways.

At the moment she was working in the lounge room, wiping dust off of surfaces and vacuuming the carpets (every so often tidying up what was left of one of Slam's snacks.) She wiped her forehead, finally removing a stain on one of the couch cushions, and walked toward the wide paramount window, where you could see the entire city.

She sighed and leaned against the vent, looking out at the orange skies of Acmetropolis, which had been normal since the meteor had hit the planet. The clouds reflected the fall color as a somewhat dismal purple.

Tora smiled, at this height, it almost seemed like she was on one of those clouds.

I had once showed her a musical I was particularly fond of, Les Miserables(yeah, I know, gay guy loves musicals, who'da thought it? It's only a cliché because it's true.)

Out of most of the musicals we had watched together, I don't think she liked that one very much. It took place during the French revolution, and in truth there are very few happy or nice moments in it. But there was one song that seemed to make a connection with Tora right away.

Castle in the clouds, look it up when you have the chance. It's adorable and sad at the same time.

Little Cossete in Les Miserables sings that there is a castle in the clouds that she visits in her sleep, a better place than living in the care of a couple who treats her cruelly and works her like a slave.

Of course, Tora didn't think she was being worked as a slaved, she enjoyed cleaning for the Loonatics. She liked being able to give something back to them for everything they do for the city.

However she couldn't help fondly thinking of the headquarters was her castle on the clouds. Up high from everything that had ever rejected her, where people were nice and accepting. Where no one yelled or talked too loud. Where no one was lost or felt like they didn't belong. Where crying wasn't allowed.

Tora smiled at her reflection, wiping at the glass with a rag, "Not in my castle on a cloud." She whispered to herself.

She set the rag down on top of the rest of her cleaning supplies, and walked towards the kitchen, wanting to start dinner. Tonight she was making lasagna, eggplant for the veggie eaters, and sausage for the carnivorous members of the Loonatics. She tied an apron around her small frame, and got to work, reliving some of her fond memories so far with each of the Loonatics. It had gotten ot he point where she had observed the way they acted so well, that she could tell who sat where at the table that morning just by the contents or areas surrounding the plates.

Not only that, but sometimes, if she was feeling lonely, or bored, she began imagining the Loonatics as a family unit. She assigned each of the members its own role, though she didn't dare voice this out loud, she didn't even tell me for the longest time.

Even though Tech was the oldest, she couldn't help but think of Ace and Lexi as the mom and dad of the group. The two of them just seemed to click, and not just because there was an obvious romantic chemistry, but because Lexi was Ace's wingman in most cases. The two often found themselves fighting side by side and would have each other's backs at the worst of times. Tech would have been the older brother of the group, there to offer guidance and so anxious to be right all the time, when there was still so much he had to learn. Slam and duck were the middle kids, both eager to impress and be noticed. And of course, Rev was the youngest, the baby, perhaps he was the most eager to please out of all of them, and as a result, everyone kept a watchful eye out for him. Not to the point where they underestimated the avian, but around the same level as they kept an eye out for everyone.

Even on their own, they fit the roles.

Ace may be smug at times, especially when it came to snuffing Ducks over inflated ego before it got too out of hand. But it was obvious he cared a lot for his teammates and was intensely protective of each and every one of them. He was patient, uncommonly so, having an even longer fuse than Tech did. It took a certain amount of gall to really tick him off, and that was usually if you threatened one of his teammates.

He was the one that would enforce the decision to drag Tech out of his lab when he was overworking himself (rev was usually the 'tattletale' but lacked the command to get the coyote to stop for a breather.) He was the one that would at least attempt to understand Rev when he would start to ramble on and on and on, he was the one that grudgingly listened to duck's ideas for making the team better (though it usually had something, if not everything, to do with himself.) He was the one that helped slam gain his confidence as a fighter in the very beginning, and continued to give him support (after all, as a wrestler, Slam had the muscle but didn't necessarily have the right guidance to use it.)

He had even offered to teach Tora a few karate moves, when he had caught her peeking tentatively in the open door of the training room once. She had quickly declined, not wanting to put an even further burden on him. He had seemed somewhat disappointed, but he nonetheless respected her decision, and assured her that if she ever changed her mind, she need only ask.

Tora smiled to herself as she cut up a few peppers.

Lexi was course during battle, and would sometimes get to be so when one of the boys was giving her a hard time (predictably, it was usually Duck.) But there was a softer side to her as well, a more caring side. As Ace's wingman, she would usually back up most of his decisions, but when there ever came one that seemed like it was a little too rash, she wouldn't outright disapprove it, but instead urge him to take another look at it, and see if there were any other options. And she did the guys paperwork for heaven's sake. She'd be there to slide a hot plate of food to tech when he sat there whimpering after being dragged away from his 'babies.' She'd give Rev a hug if he ever felt homesick (after all, he was the youngest) She'd give Duck a smile when he seemed totally put out (which was rare)and do her best to cheer him up. She'd Specifically buy Slam's favorite foods.

At first, Tora had been intimidated by Lexi. It was more often than not the pretty girls in school that had bullied her, and although she didn't think Lexi would be anything like them, it's hard to shut out those memories when they haunt you every day of your life. But the female bunny, with patience and persistence had managed to work her way into Tora's heart, and vice versa. Whenever the Loonatics would have a slow day, she would hang out with Tora and chat, or ask her about her day. Which fascinated Tora, because who on earth would want to know how a cleaning ladies day had been? It was the pinnacle of boring.

Although he could sometimes be sarcastic and cynical, it was obvious Tech cared an awful lot for his teammates. Besides his sheer love of inventing and creating, Tech worked hard to make useful gadgets and weapons to be useful to his 'pack'. He also doubled as scientist and occasional doctor, as he was the one who was in charge of patching up any injuries or diagnosing any ailments. It was during these times that tech would show his more tender side, one that usually only his inventions got to see. He was delicate and gentle as he wrapped a wound, speaking softly and comfortingly. He was also a very good listener. Tech often acted as a confidante to a lot of the Loonatics, and he kept everything secret unless whichever teammate he was speaking to told him otherwise. For example, he had found out very early on the job that Ace had a secret phobia of needles (nothing too drastic, but there was a reason why the rabbit had specifically requested that he receive his flu shot separately from everyone else.)

At one point, Tora had strained her right arm, while washing the windows, having not switched which one she was working with every so often when she should have. She had done her best to hide it, but the coyote eventually spotted her favoring the arm, until she cradled it to her and winced in pain. He insisted that he take a look at it after that, ignoring her protests. She still felt sheepish when she remembered the stern look he gave her, when he ordered her to take the rest of the day off to heal.

Slam's role in the family was a simple one, he was just that big marshmallow of a guy that only seemed intimidating because of his strength and muscle. In reality the Tasmanian devil was rather sweet natured (unless of course you happened to get on his bad side by threatening him or his teammates.) His showing of affection was often the most sincere and honest. Proven when he hugged Zadavia when they had saved the world from her wayward brother, seemingly ignoring the usually reverence and respect she was usually treated with. He just wanted to show her how happy he was that she was okay, that they were all okay.

And it was obvious that his fondness for Tora was growing. The devil was far more perceptive than people gave him credit for usually, and he could tell that the timid girl wasn't, in truth, afraid of them, but more so too nervous to really approach them. He wasn't sure why, but he did his best, in his own way, to make her feel like she was wanted. Such as whenever he saw her, he would either ruffle her hair gently or envelope her in a large furry hug.

Duck was a tricky guy to place in this family. Tora didn't want to outright pronounce him the black sheep, because he wasn't. He was an incredibly valuable member of the team when he would stop preening and start taking action. Every now and again, his ability to take charge and get things done shone through when he would put aside his ego, such as the time with Adolpho, and when he and Lexi had worked together to free Ace from the evil dolphin. And despite how he could sometimes get on his teammates nerves, they would never trade having him on the team for anything. Tech even speculated that Duck paraded his accomplishments perhaps because he was afraid no one else would notice everything that was good about him. Growing up in an orphanage can do that to a person.

Unfortunately, him and Tora were such complete opposites, they tended to clash when they met. Not by Tora's choice, mind you. And It wasn't as if Duck hated the kid, he just found it really hard to understand her, both figuratively and you know, physically (she's got a very quiet voice after all.) He didn't posses the patience that most of the Loonatics had so he often found himself loosing his temper with her, to which she would squeak and shrink away. And what it would usually get him was a death glare from either Lexi or Tech. Despite how much he seemed to dislike being around her, the Mallard had walked Tora home when she had had to stay after dark to finish her work once. He didn't even need to be asked. He just kinda met her at the front door and waited for her to gather her belongings, she gawked at him for a moment when he opened the door, and he huffed a little, asking if she was coming or not. She hurried to follow him out the door, and the entire way there he didn't seem happy at all. But he walked her all the way there and didn't leave until she was safely in the door of My flat. She wondered why, if he had been given the task by Ace, that he didn't just quack her home. But then she heard that his quaking ability only worked for short distances, and long distances wasn't the best way to go. It must have cost him a great deal of trouble to walk her home to safety, but he did it anyway.

With so many jobs already filled on the team, some often wondered what it was Rev did for the team. Besides his super speed and internal GPS, which were definitely useful, the avian couldn't outright shoot or attack his enemies other than physical hand to hand fighting, which he was getting better and better at. What was great about Rev though, is that he never once let himself think he was useless. He went where he was needed, at any time, at any place, always willing to help with whatever it was. Whether it was if Ace needed a sparring partner, if Lexi just needed to talk, if duck needed a sidekick (snicker),if tech needed an extra hand in the lab, if slam needed to get out and work off some energy, he was there in a flash. And the roadrunner almost always had a smile on his face, ever the optimistic and finding the best out of any situation.

These were all qualities that made Tora's general admiration for one of her heroes, gradually escalate to a somewhat different level. When I say this, I don't mean she actually acknowledged that a crush the size of a continent was slowly growing in her heart, because both Tora and Rev were kinda oblivious in that department. She did, however, notice that whenever he was around, her heart sped up and she got incredibly nervous. This feeling had died somewhat as she grew more comfortable with the other Loonatics, but it didn't go away with Rev.

Of course The roadrunner had no idea this was happening (to our knowledge at least…) And would occasionally speed down the hallway to talk to her whenever he spotted her. He would talk for hours and hours, following her as she cleaned. And not once did she ask him to shut up, nor did she clamp his beak shut. Eventually he noticed how long he was talking, and he apologized for rambling (even if he wasn't really all that sorry) and explained that sometimes you really do need to physically stop him to get a word in. He asked her why she didn't once interrupt him.

She paused for a moment, then, almost hugging her broom, she said softly,

"There was a time when I would have given anything for someone to listen to me, or trust that whatever I was saying I thought was important. Who am I to take that away from someone else?"

She turned, with a rare moment of courage, to give the roadrunner a small smile.

Rev had gaped at her a moment, then dashed over and seized her in a hug. No one had ever done that for him before.

Tora of course flushed like a lobster, but was quite unable to do anything except stand there, because Rev's embrace left her arms pinned at her sides.

Even thinking about it now made her heart quicken, and she shook her head, concentrating once again on making the Loonatics dinner. Pretty soon both lasagnas were prepared and ready to be baked. She set the oven timer and picked up her broom, read to move on to the next task while she waited for the food to cook.

Apart from the whole familial connection she had made, Tora told me about everything whenever she would come home. I was elated to see a little more light return to her eyes as she talked about everything she learned, everything she had experienced. It was like looking at the old Tora, before the bullying had started. She was, for the first time in a long time, truly happy.

For this, I was able to look past my frustration at the fact that she still refused to tell them about her powers. But at least she had found soemthign she enjoyed. So as a little reward, I put a little money aside and was finally able to buy her a new EMP3 music blaster 9001. When I put the little device in her hand, her expression was priceless. It was a weird combination of delight, shock, and horror all wrapped into one. I couldn't help but laugh.

"C-Cal this must have been so expensive!" she squealed, trying to push the gift back at me, but I resolutely held my hands out of the way and behind my back.

"You deserve it Tora," I said shaking my head, "You've been so brave and worked so hard for so long. Its time you got a little reward."

Tora looked like she wanted to protest, and I pulled out the big guns.

"You don't like it?" I whimpered, making sure to have my lower lip tremble a bit and focused on making my eyes big and watery.

Tora had hugged the thing to her chest like it was her newborn baby, "I love it!" she yelled, mostly in panic, but I would take what I could get, "I love it so much Cal, I really do!"

"Good." I had said simply, crocodile tears drying in a split second. I walked out of the room leaving Tora understandably frazzled.

Now, as she got ready to sweep the halls in the HQ, she pulled the small gadget out of her sweater pocket. Now seemed as good a time as any to try it out, after all, the Loonatics didn't usually get home until much later. She inserted the ear buds and all sound outside of them was instantly blocked out. She let the great compositions done by Phil Collins serenade her as she worked.

/

But something unexpected was about to happen.

Once again, the Loonatics had returned for an early evening, yet another newbie villain put away for the time being. It had been nice for the first few weeks, but now it was getting suspicious.

"Ya get da feeling dey know something we don't tech?" Ace asked the intelligent coyote as they all excited the fighter jet they all had ridden in, walking into the headquarters. Lexi shivered, thankful to finally be out of the cold, but she knew the other rabbit had a point.

"I do chief. It's just been too easy lately, and not a peep from any of our more notorious evildoers, like Massive or mastermind. It's not like them to go so long without at least one escape attempt." Tech ran some calculations on his palmtop computer, "Something's going on chief, I don't know what yet, but I'm pretty sure we won't like it when we do."

Ace chose not to comment on that, because as usual, the coyote was right.

As all six of them walked down the halls towards the lounge for some well-earned rest, they noticed their cleaning lady sweeping absently to the side.

"Hey Tora!" Lexi greeted, but then noticed that the girl had earplugs in.

Ace grinned, and reached out to shake her shoulder, and gain her attention.

From this point on, the story takes a very different turn. For Tora had, predictably, not been expecting the Loonatics, or anyone to come up behind her. Shen she felt Ace's reasonably gentle touch on her shoulder, she was startled at a heart jarring pace out of her reverie, and she shrieked.

Also, out of pure instinct, she turned invisible.

Ace blinked and gaped. One moment, Tora had been there, now she wasn't. He backed up a bit and noticed that it wasn't just him. Duck was rubbing his eyes and checking in front of him, Lexi's hangs had come up to her mouth in alarm and tech rev and slam were openly staring in front of them. Ace followed their line of sight back to where Tora had been.

But wait,

If Tora was gone, then how was the broom still standing upright in the air?

As soon as Ace realized this it seemed, Tora rematerialized, whipping around after realizing what she had done. She stared at the Loonatics with an outright horrified expression

Oops.

**I think honestly, this is my favorite chapter so far. Hopefully it wasn't too boring, but I felt like the story needed a nice reflective chapter before any shit started to hit the proverbial fan. Anyways, thank you for reading. Please review and let me know what you think.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Whew, okay, big chapter coming right up. Gotta mentally prepare myself (stares blankly at the wall) kay I think I'm good.**

**Please enjoy =^^=**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Loonatics**

No one moved for what seemed like a long time. Tora stared wide eyed and panicked at the Loonatics, and the Loonatics in turn stared surprised at the mouse. A mouse till this point they had assumed had been a normal anthro.

You would have thought Zadavia would check for something like that before hiring her.

"Tora," Tech said slowly, being the first to recover, "Just how did you do that?"

Tora could not hope to form words at the moment, let alone and explanation, or even a bluff. Her throat had gone sand dry and her stomach flipped when the Coyote spoke.

_No. Oh no.._

Ace took a hesitant step forward, and reached a hand out as if to put it on her shoulder, "Do you have super powers Tora?" He asked, wanting the truth once and for all.

Tora recoiled away from him as if he had struck her, hitting her back against the wall, her eye's only seemed even more frightened,

_No no no no_

Lexi frowned in concern, taking a step toward her, "Tora?"

_Get out, get out of there!_

Tora's chest hurt with how hard her heart was beating, She gave Lexi a helpless look, wanting to answer, but it was like a hand had closed over her neck, she couldn't breathe,

"Well?! What do you have to say for yourself?" duck finally exclaimed, fed up with the lack of an answer. Yelling however, was a mistake.

_GET OUT!_

Tears sprung to Tora's eyes and spilled despite her valiant efforts to quench them. With a dry sob, she closed her eyes and turned invisible. There was no point in hiding it anymore. She dropped the broom, and ran as fast as she could to the door, sprinting out and down the hall.

For a moment, The dumbstruck Loonatics thought she had teleported, as the broom fell where she had stood instead of standing upright like last time. However, that theory was disproved when they heard the doors behind them slide open and shut, and footsteps running away.

"Tora!" Lexi cried out, while Rev wasted no time and took off after her, "Tora, come back!"

Rev's GPS was working extra hard to locate the mouse, all those weeks ago, when he and slam had chased her around, thinking she was playing hide and seek. It all made sense why they would never find her. She'd duck into a corner and turn invisible, confusing The roadrunner into thinking his internal locating system was on the fritz. Even now, even though it told him she was just ahead of him (he had to go slower to avoid passing her) he couldn't see her at all. In time and with practice he may be able to estimate where she was, but for now he was as good as blind, and forced to follow the sound of her panicked running. It was like torture, to go this slow and be so helpless to do anything about it

He followed her right until she got to the indoor garage, the last floor until the door outside. Once she was out there, Rev would have no hope of catching her,

"Wait!" He shouted, "Wait-Tora-please-wait!"

But she didn't listen, he heard the buttons for the garage doors to open being frantically pressed, and the sound of someone rolling under and out the slow doors.

By the time Rev clambered through himself, Tora was gone. In a rare show of frustration, he punched the garage door, ignoring the dull sting of his knuckles hitting the cold metal.

After a moment or two, the rest of the Loonatics had caught up to him. Taking in the sight of rev kneeling in the slush outside of the garage, they rightfully assumed that he hadn't succeeded in stopping her. Tech put a hand on the youngest hero's shoulder, coaxing him to stand up from the cold ground.

"Well that's just great!" Duck shouted incredulously, "The kid's been snooping in our headquarters, and the whole time she could have been sneaking anywhere, and we wouldn't have even known!" He clutched at his head, mostly in panic, "Maybe she's been a mole this whole time, trying to get our secrets!"

The Loonatics turned and glared at him, he seemed to forget that Zadavia herself and pronounced Tora as not a threat. They were surprised however when Rev, spoke up,

"Tora-was-NOT-a-Spy." He said, thought his speech didn't seem nearly as fast as it usually was. His arms were crossed as a cold wind blew pat them. A few snowflakes were starting to fall.

Duck glared at him, "Yeah? How would you know that, mister speed-demon-but-I-can't-even-catch-one-measly-mouse?"

Rev's eyes narrowed at the Mallard for a moment, before he turned to look out in the distance, as if willing Tora to come back.

"Because-she-was-crying." He said quietly.

Everything was silent for a moment. Lexi came up to stand at Ace's side, touching his arm slightly, as if both giving comfort and seeking it at the same time.

"Ace?" She asked softly, "What should we do?"

Ace had been staring in the distance much like Rev had been, and now turned to glance at the female bunny. She was making a valiant effort to stay calm, though he could tell how upset she was. He knew how she felt, they had all bonded with Tora these past few weeks, whether she realized it or not.

"That's easy, Lex" He smiled, trying to exude confidence and get his team's moral up to speed again, "We go afta her, a'course."

/

She didn't know how exactly she got home. As soon as she had gotten out of the doors to the Loonatics headquarters, Tora just ran, blinded by tears.

_It's over. I can't go back there, oh Tora you IDIOT!_

Her chest and throat were burning, begging for her to slow down, but she kept going, pushing her legs to carry her away. She had never run this fast In her life, she didn't share her great great great grandfathers speed after all. Snow splattered on her face as it fell from the sky. Any other time and it would have a sort of ethereal calming effect on Tora, but now it just felt eerie, staling and suffocating. The slush under her feet made her slip, and more than once she face planted onto the pavement underneath her, scraping up her face and grazing the palms of her hands were she had caught herself.

It took forever to get back home, and by the time she did, she was soaked, cold, and emotionally a wreck. She didn't bother to rematerialize before swinging the door open and collapsing on the ground, sucking in air.

I'd been looking over some footage I'd shot that morning, when I heard the door slam.

Odd, Tora didn't usually get home at this time.

I looked around the corner into the hall, down towards the door. I could hear someone panting as they caught their breath, and the carpet was soaked in one spot.

"Tora?" I called out, why was she invisible?

The girl rematerialized at the sound of my voice, looking up at me in utter distress. Her cheek was bleeding somewhat from where she had fallen, and tears had left dark trails down her furry face.

"Oh my g-Tora!" I shouted again, hurrying down the hall to kneel by her, taking her face gently in my hands and turning it towards me so I could analyze the damage. She fought my hold, turning her face to look at the ground as she sniffled, "Tora, look at me…" I said, concerned,

Tora shook her head. She was trying to get herself together, probably for my sake. He small frame shook with the effort of keeping it all inside,

"Sweetie what happened?" I asked, my eyes softening.

My eyebrows shot up to my hairline when The small mouse suddenly shoved me away from her, looking strangely angry and distraught as tears continued to pour out of her eyes,

"Why did you send me there?! Why Cal?!" She yelled. She pushed past me and continued to run down the hall to her room, slamming the door behind her.

I was understandably thrown for a loop. Tora almost never raises her voice, especially not in anger, and she's never acted violently towards me. Even if her shove was only enough to make me teeter back onto my knees in my kneeling position. It was a little bit hurt by her actions.

But I couldn't worry about that now, Tora was in a lot more pain than I was right now, that was for damn sure. I got to my feet and followed her. I very nearly barged right in, but some part of me that still functioned in a state of normalcy remembered to knock tentatively,

"Tora?" I called through shakily, "Baby, I'm coming in okay?"

I opened the door, only to see Tora pacing her floor, in the midst of a full blown panic attack. Her hands alternated from clutching of her hair, picking up things in her room, and rubbing her arms. She was shivering, but I had a sneaking suspicion that it had nothing to do with the sopping wet icy clothes she had on.

She was starting to scare me now, even her yelling at me was better than this.

"Tora, kiddo, please. Tell me what's wrong!"

Tora through her arms down from where they had been clutching her hair and she whipped around to face me, looking positively irate,

"I didn't want to be there Cal. You once told me that you talked but I didn't listen, but I'd say you do that more than me! I told you I didn't want to be there and you ignored me, I told you I wasn't brave enough but you ignored me! I told you I was a coward but you ignored me! You knew I was ashamed of my powers, but you IGNORED ME!"

She sobbed, and I wanted to say something, but I couldn't. I may have had good intentions, but she was right. Everything she said was right. And it didn't end there.

"I've spent my whole life being ignored, or being stepped on, or treated like a pushover, I thought you were the one person I could trust not to do that! You knew how ashamed I am of my super powers, you know how useless they are! You know I never wanted the Loonatics to know, but congratulations, you got your wish! They know now! I messed it all up Cal! I turned invisible, in front of all of them, so there's no way I can disapprove it."

My eyes widened slightly, understanding now. That explained why she was panicking. I mean yeah, I wanted them to find out eventually she had powers, but I wanted it to be by her own choice. Now looking at her, I knew she wasn't ready for it at all.

She covered her face with her hands, looking utterly distraught. She sank slowly so she was sitting on her bed, her head cradled in her arms,

"I…I could have lived the rest of my life being invisible." She choked finally, "In every sense of the word." She gulped, the lump in her throat large and painful, "If I'm invisible, no one can put their trust in me, and be disappointed."

She gave me such a heartbreaking look I felt my eyes get misty myself,

"I-If I'm invisible, I can't put my trust in others. I-if I don't have trust in others, they can't hurt me." She shook her head and put her face back into her hands, "They can't hurt me like the others did."

By 'others' I assume she meant all of the other kids from school. She had trusted them to give her a chance to probe what a wonderful girl she was, but they had not only brushed it off, they antagonized and humiliated her for it.

So the truth was all out now. That was the real reason why she didn't want to work or joint he Loonatics. To be a part of a team, you had to trust others. And trust was something that Tora just didn't know how to do anymore. She and I loved each other like brother and sister, but even I speculated that I didn't have her entire trust. She had been told for so long that she was nothing special, that she was stupid, that she was worthless.

There is a story I once heard, of a tribe in the Solomon islands. Whenever they needed to clear a part of the jungle, they wouldn't chop down the tree, they would gather around it, and hurl insults at it. Curse it. Slowly after some time, the tree would wither.

It dies on its own.

I slowly approached the bed and gingerly sat beside my best friend, wrapping my arms around her shuddering form and pulling her into an embrace. I wanted to squeeze every bit of love I had for her in that hug, maybe if I could she would finally see how special she is.

She didn't push me away this time. She flung her arms around me and cried out, not bothering to hold it in anymore. It was like that night some years ago, when she had begged me not to make her go back to that hell-hole they called public school.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, "I know you were just trying to help me. I know you just wanted me to be happy. I shouldn't have yelled at you."

I stroked her wavy black hair, resting my cheek on top of her head, "It's alright. You can be angry at me Tora, you were right in some respects. I should have paid more attention to your feelings, and for that I'm sorry too."

The Mouse girl rubbed at her eyes, which were getting sore from crying, "I ruined everything Cal..." she said weakly, "I had finally found a place that I could go to and enjoy just being there." She sniffled, finally seeming to calm down, "T-the truth is…I didn't want to leave at all."

Her eyes widened at this realization, and a few more hot tears fell out of her eyes, "I wanted to stay…"

She buried her head into my shoulder and I let her, rubbing her back and whispering soothing to her. After a while, she had calmed down enough to just hiccupping slightly as her body recovered from the emotional trauma she had put herself through.

I gave her a half smile, kissing her on the temple, "Don't you worry about dinner tonight, Kay? We'll order out." I tugged at the now damp sweater, "You need to go take a hot shower, before you catch a cold."

She nodded, looking utterly exhausted.

I patted her hand, and walked out of the room, heading for the phone and the take out menu hanging on our fridge. I made the call, and made myself a cup of coffee, feeling wiped myself. For about half an hour, I just sat in silence, waiting for our food to get there. I heard the shower run for about 15 minutes, then silence once again.

So you can understand why I jumped a foot in the air when the doorbell rang. I rubbed my knee where I had hit it on the table and grumbled to myself, standing wearily and going to answer it.

I didn't know it of course, but tora had the exact same reaction. Her head popped off the the pillow she was hugging and she looked fearfully at the door.

_No…No they coudnt have…it's the delivery man, surely._

She wasn't going to take any chances. She had been humiliated enough during her life, she wasn't going to stick around for it to happen again. She looked around the room for a hiding place, slowly phasing out of visibility.

"Rasenfrasa-late pizza" I grouched to myself, ignoring how ironically close I was to speaking like Slam did. (I occasionally saw him speak on TV)

Imagine my surprise to open the door and see not my pizza being delivered, but all six of the Loonatics. They looked sort of out of place, al dressed up in their fancy suits and jet packs in an otherwise sleepy neighborhood.

I blinked, perplexed. They looked sort of perplexed themselves, seeing a well-dressed guy with pink and blue hgihlights in his short dirty blonde hair open the door.

"Er... Hi?" I finally said.

"phlagura Hello!" Slam waved from the back of the group. Like I've said before, ever the easy going guy.

The Rabbit guy, er I mean Ace smirked good naturdly at me,

"What's up doc, My guess is you're Calvin right? Glad ta meet ya face ta face."

He held his hand out for a shake, and I obliged, "Likewise."

"Is Tora here?" The girl bunny, I think her name is Lexi, said from behind him. She looked worried.

"Urrmm" I was in a predicament here. I had just gotten Tora to calm down, and I knew at this point telling the Loonatics she was here was the last thing she would want. And to do so would be ignoring her feelings again. I didn't want to do that, not unless it was necessary.

..but _was_ it necessary?

I would figure that out later. I had wanted to talk with them anyways. I figured inviting them in now would just save time.

"You should probably come inside." Stealthy dodge of the question asked? Checkaroo.

Once we were all situated inside, moving them to the living room because Tora's room was out of sight that way. I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms.

"I'm guessing you guys want to know how Tora's doing after that fiasco today?"

That seemed to take them aback for a moment.

"How is it that you know about all that?" Tech asked, raising an eyebrow.

I smirked, too easy, "Take a wild guess, cutie." I winked at him.

Tech spluttered while the others snickered at his expense. I don't handle heavy stuff well, I like to lighten the mood when I can. And I wasn't lying, The coyote was cute.

Said coyote coughed into his hand, trying to disperse the awkward turn the conversation had taken, "I-er- take it Tora told you about it."

Fortunately even I know when it's time to get serious. I sighed, and relayed everything Tora had told me.

"Yeah. It took a hell of a lot to calm her down too. What the heck did you say to her anyways?" I gave them all an intense look, duck mostly. I heard stores of him losing his temper with Tora, and I wasn't happy with it.

"Nothing-we-swear-we-just-happened-to-be-there-and-i-think-we-scared-her-into-turning-invisible-and-she-ran-out,-i-mean-we-tried-to-catch-her-and-ask-her-why-she-could-turn-invisible-but-its-hard-to-track-someone-who's-invisible-even-with-built-in-gps-so-we-came-here-cuz-we-wanted-to-make-sure-she-was-okay,-she-is-okay-right? She-was-really-upset-we-just-don't-know-why-and-we-really-want-to-make-it-better-so-yeah-we-came-here,-oh-i-already-said-that." Rev babbled.

I blinked, only catching about half of that before getting lost. I turned blankly to Ace.

"You. Translate that please."

Ace shrugged, "In otha woids, we were worried about her. Care ta explain why she reacted like that?"

I stared at the floor for a moment. Okay, they were worried about her, that was earning them brownie points. On the other hand,

"I know why but…that in itself is kinda a long story." Stealthy dodge of the second question. Booyah.

"We've got time, if you don't mind telling us." Tech said politely, as Ace made a show of making himself comfortable.

I bit my lip, I hated talking about this. It was hard to remember that part of Tora's life, let alone talk about it. I took a deep breath, and sent a mental apology to Tora. I knew I was probably overstepping my boundaries again by telling them this.

"There's something you need to understand about Tora,"My arms slid tighter around my waist, so It was more of a self hug than anything else., "She'll always put other before herself. And she never complains, about anything. So if something bad is happening to her, she won't speak up for herself, until it's too much for her to bear."

I could feel the confused stares of the Loonatics on me, but I pressed forward.

"through Middle school, and most of high school, Tora was bullied by her peer something awful…she was the only anthro there, and in this world if you're different you're penalized for it. And she was quiet too, so that seemed to make it okay for the other kids to walk all over her."

My tone was turning steadily more bitter, but I had a feeling the Loonatics could sympathize.

"It's...it's hard to go over the torture she went through the year after I graduated. I tried to protect her when I was there, I really did, but since im a few years older there wasn't much I could do. But when I left, it was like a free for all. The bullying escalated from being an annoyance , to being downright dangerous."

Lexi closed her eyes a moment, as if mentally preparing herself,

"What happened?" She asked, her voice wary. She looked like she'd rather not hear it to be honest, but I knew that The extent of Tora's mental scars wouldn't take as much of a hold if I didn't.

I ran a hand through my hair, trying to keep the rage out of my face, it still affected me this way even after all this time.

"Two of the worst was when most of the kids in her class gathered a bunch of chunks of moldy cheese," I know, funny start, but it's a terrible ending, "They cornered her in the lunch room and pelted her with them. Some of the chunks were thrown so hard they left welts on her."

I could see them tense, and that wasn't even the worst of it.

"One kid threatened to cut off her tail with his pocket knife…"

It was collectively and eerily silent after that, as the statement hung in the air. On the outside Ace looked calm, but his eyes were intense and I could see his fists clenching. Lexi looked close to tears, and slam looked like he very much wanted to break something. Tech rubbed his forehead, and Rev fidgeted, his young face looking uncharacteristically serious. Duck looked like he wanted to say something, but at the moment he wasn't sure what it was.

"After that, Tora just wasn't the same. She rarely talked or smiled anymore, she totally isolated herself from the world. After the meteor hit and she got her powers, it only made the isolation worse."

I rubbed my forehead tiredly, "Her confidence is shot, and whenever she talks about herself she says the most horrible things. I try so hard to help her but there's only so much I can do. I can support her, but I don't have super powers, I don't know how to help her get control, or to function normally with them."

I sent Ace an imploring look, "And that's why I called Zadavia, that's why I worked so hard to get Tora to meet you, even if it was at a cleaning lady. I thought eventually the truth would come out, and you'd be able to help her in ways I couldn't."

I wish they knew how hard it was to say that. I was Tora's best friend, her big brother. I was supposed to be able to help her with anything, and once again I was totally at others mercy. I took a deep breath, and did my best to let go just a little bit,

"I know it's time for her to move on, and realize how special she is. And I know it's a lot to ask, for someone you don't know very well…But you guys are heroes, and right now, Tora desperately needs your help. So I'll ask you, here and now…Can you do it? Can you save her?"

"We can." Ace said immediately, giving me a deadly serious look.

"I don't know how deep her scars go." I warned

Lexi shook her head, "we may not know Tora very well yet, but I still consider her a good friend. I care a lot about her and I want to be able to help her."

The rest of the group nodded their agreement, and I felt something inside me melt with relief. There was half of the battle one, now for the rest.

I smiled at them for the first time that night, "Then follow me."

I led them down the hall a bit, but stopped two or three doors down from Tora's.

"Tora's room is down there. It may frighten her more if you all go in there at once, so my best suggestion for you is to send the calmest among you to talk to her, and the rest of you can chill with me in the front room. Got it?"

The Loonatics quickly decided amongst themselves that the best ones to go in were Tech, Ace and Lexi.

Tech approached the door, knocking on it cautiously, "Tora? Tora we're coming in"

All three of them entered, taking in the room as they did. Tora was nowhere to be found, but they didn't think she would be at first. All of them extended their arms in front of them, so they wouldn't run into the invisible girl by accident and made their way to places where they could sit. Tech pulled out Tora's desk chair and sat down wearily while Ace and Lexi sat on the edge of her bed.

"Tora?" Tech called out tentatively, predictably not getting an answer, "Tora I know you're listening somewhere. And that's okay. You don't have to come out if you don't want to. Just please, listen to what we have to say" He paused a moment, letting her soak in these words, "Cal told us what happened to you, what you've been dealing with for so long, all by yourself.. and honestly kiddo, I think you are the bravest person I've ever known."

From where Tora was hiding, curled up into a ball in her wardrobe, her head popped off of where it was resting on her drawn in knees.

Lexi smiled, as if predicting her reaction even though she couldn't see it, "He's right you know Tora. Believe me, I know what you're going through….I was the only anthro at my school too. And I got bullied just like you. I used to have trouble seeing all of my good points. It's like all I could see were the bad points, because that's all that had ever been pointed out to me. And when I got my powers I was just as scared as you are."

She looked around, trying once again to catch a glimpse of her new friend even though she knew it wasn't possible at the moment.

"I felt like I was completely alone in the world, and I was going to be stuck being an outsider for the rest of my life. But then Zadavia found me, and introduced me to the guys. She showed me how special I was, and that what we want to help you with. We want you to see the beautiful, kind , gentle, and sweet Tora that we all know you are."

Lexi smiled, hoping that Tora could see it, and Ace took his turn.

"We're Loonatics, and we all look out for one anatha. And that includes you kid. Even before we found out you had powers, we knew that. And even if ya don't believe it yet kid, ya got some awesome powers. My point is bottom line? We tink da woild of ya Tora. Ya don't gotta be lost no more," His tone softened and he paused.

"You're not alone anymore." He finished finally, hoping if nothing else got through to their young friend, that did.

Everything was still for a good minute or two, and they waited. Just when they were afraid that Tora wasn't going to make any indication of herring what they said, the wardrobe doors creaked and pushed open seemingly on their own.

The three Loonatics stood, smiling, when they head soft foot falls of someone clambering down from their hiding place in the wardrobe.

Lexi 'oofed' when she felt someone hug her around the waist, and she heard a sniffle. Immediately she wrapped her arms around the figure, even though she couldn't see it,

"Tora…" she cooed, rocking the younger girl back and forth comfortingly.

Finally, finally after reaching out to her for so long, the mouse was finally reaching back.

Slowly Tora phased back into view crying a little bit out of happiness for once. Tech rubbed her shoulder fondly, "Good to see you Little lady.

Once she had calmed down some, All three of them led her out to the others where they waited in the front room. Tora with a soft smile on her face, which pleased me to no end. I almost got up and did another happy dance, but somehow it felt a little too soon for that. Slam got this big grin on his face, and even Duck looked a little relived. Rev's smile was so elated I thought he'd start glowing. I rose my eyebrows

Interesting.

"I'm-glad-youre-feeling-better-tora-but-now-are-you-gonna-be-a-loonatic-like-us-cuz-you've-got-a-really-cool-power-,or-maybe-you'll-come-back-just-as-our-cleaning-lady,oh-whatever-as-long-as-you're-coming-back.." Rev seemed to realize what he said and gave Tora one of his infamous wounded puppy looks (the ones that tech usually got when the avian needed his help,

"you-are-coming-back-arent-you?" He asked,

Tora flushed a little, but smiled. "Yes. I'm coming back. But just as the cleaning lady for now."

Rev let out a joyful squeal and seized her in a hug, making the fur on her face go a rusty red with a blush.

Ace put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a confident smile,

"Good ta have ya back."

**Finally! Good lord this was the longest chapter yet! Ohhh the carpal tunnel (twitch) alright, I just want to say I borrowed the story with the tree and the Solomon islands. I heard it from a foreign move called "like stars on earth" it's a great movie, go check it out.**

**Time for sleep, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review if you can. : )**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm excited for this chapter, its more fluff, but it isn't completely pointless. In fact its very important fluff. Character building fluff. It's gonna be fun to write! I actually had a lot of difficulty with the last chapter….but that could have been because my roommate showed me Ru Paul's Drag race and I was trying to write it while watching it lol.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Loonatics unleashed.**

Ace dusted his hands off and stood straight to observe his work. He nodded his approval, and turned away from the obstacle source of weights and training equipment he'd set up.

"Alrighty Tora," The Male rabbit said, turning around to face the mouse. She was standing awkwardly a few feet away, fiddling with the cuff of a gym suit she borrowed from Lexi. It made her look sort of droopy since Lexi was a good few inches taller than her. She also looked like she would rather not be in that particular room at the moment at all, her ears drooped sheepishly and she was giving the weights a wary glance.

Since she had agreed to come back, Ace had made her agree to take some self-defense lessons.

"Headquarters has got a target on it da size a da moon, if eva you're here when we aren't, and some wacko comes in, we want ya ta have a fightin chance." He explained to her when she tried to decline. Everyone had strongly backed up his point, even Duck, strangely enough. They all wanted her to be safe, and she felt touched by that.

But..

"Umm, A-Ace?" She said, shuffling her feet, "I-Im really really bad at this...physical strength stuff."

She looked down glumly, remembering many a gym class she had spent being ridiculed for her lack of muscle, "I'm actually pretty pathetic, really.." she mumbled, more to herself than Ace.

Ace rubbed the back of his neck, trying to think of a response. He was starting to see what Cal meant by scars. It was hard to hear her talk about herself this way.

He put a hand on her shoulder, "Look kiddo, ya aint gotta lift yer own body weight or nottin on da foist day. Today is just ta see what ya _can_ do and we'll work our way up from dere. So don't be so hard on yourself, kay?" He smirked, "Or I'll call Rev in here."

Tora's eyes widened and she flushed more than she'd care to admit.

You're probably wondering why Ace was now using Rev as a threat. Well, I'll tell you, because I get a kick out of it myself. X3

For reasons unknown, ever since Tora started working at the Loonatics headquarters again, The speedy avian had been keeping abnormally frequent tabs on her. It was like he was afraid if he left her alone for too long she'd up and disappear on them again. Obviously he didn't run back during a mission, but she'd be the first thing he'd check for when he got home.

Then for some reason, Rev had seemingly made it his second mission in life to make sure Tora smiled more often. When he did check on her, if she looked sad, or even so much as her ears were drooping (a common sight) he'd run up and try to amend the situation. Usually he would make funny faces or tell knock knock jokes (usually not waiting long enough for her to answer 'who's there') And he'd recently discovered that he got much faster results when he'd wiggle his fingers into her sides

It was rather embarrassing and left a pretty flustered Tora in its midst every time it happened.

So that was why Ace chuckled when she hurriedly approached the first weight bench.

He showed her the correct position for an overhead press, and pretty soon he was helping to lower the first bar over her as she lay on the bench. Just as he did, both Slam and Lexi had come in to watch. They kept quiet incase their presence would give Tora stage-fright.

Ace had started with giving her a 50 pound weight, but the small mouse couldn't get the bar to budge, and it left her pinned to the bench. She sent Ace a pitiful look and he hastily replaced it with a 40 pound weight. She managed to move it, at least, but only in short spurts of energy. She never got the thing over her head.

Ace bit his lip, and tried a 30 pound weight.

Finally, Tora was able after a good amount of effort to lift the bar over her head, her elbows cracking as they shot straight. She wavered for a second, before the weights caused her to tip to one side and off the bench. She yelped and dropped the bar, and Ace rushed forward to help her.

Poor kid sat on the ground and pulled her ears to hide her face again, now thoroughly embarrassed.

"D'aw, don't feel bad, kid," Ace said sympathetically, moving her hands so her ears popped back out, "It takes practice 'is all."

Next they tried a dead lift, Tora bent with her knees like Ace showed her, but couldn't seem to get the weight off the ground. Finally Slam couldn't take it anymore, and revealed his presence by marching across the room, and lifting the weight up and over his head with one hand. Unfortunately, Tora still had a grip on the bar, and was lifted up and off of her feet.

Lexi stifled a snicker and Ace smirked, "Eh, that's not how it's supposed ta work Slam."

Tora gave the Tasmanian devil and grateful smile, still dangling from the raised bar, "I-I do appreciate the thought Slam. Thank you."

For the next hour, Tora was subject to more reluctant testing. When they tried to see how hard she could tackle, she bounced right off the villain model, when she tried to do a push up, she felt flat on her face. And uh…need I go on? You get the picture…

Needless to say, Tora left the training room feeling more than glum. She slumped past the words of encouragement that Lexi Slam and Ace tried to give her before heading down the hallway, hoping she'd have a few hours to recover from her embarrassment. Slam followed her out, patting her head sympathetically.

Ace sighed, wiping his forehead with a towel Lexi passed him.

"So, how did she really do?" Lexi asked warily.

Ace shrugged, "She's got a long way ta go, but we knew dat already. Right now da biggest obstacle she's got is gettin her self-confidence back."

Lexi nodded, "Hopefully the meeting with Zadavia later today will give some ideas on what to do."

Shortly after convincing her to come back, The Loonatics informed the 'boss lady' what had happened.

Zadavia had been surprised of course, and at first she was a little angry (mostly at me because I knew the whole time but didn't tell her. Haters gonna hate.) But that soon went away when she met Tora and had a talk with her.

Tora was so upset at the thought of the somewhat intimidating woman was mad that she babbled her profuse apologies long enough to put Rev to shame. I've experienced those moments with Tora, its impossible to stay mad at her. And between you and me, I think the boss lady was as fond of her as the Loonatics were.

So today, while Tora went out for reasons I'll explain later in the chapter, they were going to hold a meeting concerning this new development. In the mean time, they had some time to kill, and Ace spotted Rev a little ways away,

"Yo, Rev!" The male rabbit called, and a millisecond later, the red avian was in front of him

"hey-whats-up-Ace?Need-help-with-something,-do-you-need-a-sparring-partner-or-maybe-you-want-one-of-my-super-pick-me-up-shakes-you-look-like-you-just-got-doen-with-a-workout-and-" His ramble was cut off when ace reached out and clamped his beak shut,

"Dere's a Tora down around here dat needs cheering up. Ya up to it?" He asked, not mincing words.

Rev's eyes lit up at the prospect of doing his new favorite past time, and nodded taking off down the hall without saying bye to either of the bunnies.

Lexi giggled when she heard Tora squeal somewhere in the vicinity. He'd found her.

/

"Well Loonatics," Zadavia started with a sigh, "I'm not sure what you want me to say, or what we don't already know…"

All six of them were gathered around the holo-com of the head of the Loonatics.

Tech brought up the results of some tests he had run on the extent of control Tora had over her powers.

"Tora's convinced that her powers are useless, but it's actually quite the opposite. She has some serious potential to be the greatest espionage agent in the world. Even my heat seekers have trouble picking her up when she turns invisible. It's like the very atoms she's made of blend in with their surroundings, in every aspect imaginable. It's no wonder you had difficulty picking her up with your GPS ,Rev," The coyote said, and Rev nodded.

"It's obvious that Tora is suffering from a severe trauma of some kind, no doubt a result of the treatment her peers had given her in the past," Zadavia said sympathetically, "Her confidence is nearly depleted, if not completely. But we already knew that."

Duck snorted, leaning back in his chair cockily, "What I don't get is why the kid didn't use her powers ta get some well-deserved payback! She wouldn't even get caught!"

Lexi glared at him, slamming her hand on the desk, "Tora didn't even want her powers in the first place, how do you expect her to use them on something as petty as revenge? Does that even sound like something Tora would do?"

Duck shrugged,

"don't you remember how it was to have your powers and have almost no control over them, or why you had them? Weren't you ever scared at all?" Lexi tried again.

"Nope." The mallard answered simply, and the rest of the Loonatics collectively rolled their eyes.

"Well I was," Lexi said, "I was terrified. For days I couldn't move from my room because I couldn't block out all of the sounds I suddenly heard, I nearly brain blasted my roommate when she surprised me in the kitchen one day. I never felt like more of an outsider than that time. I was lucky enough to be found by Zadavia before it could get too bad. Tora's been dealing with this all alone for almost a year and a half!"

The mallard looked down at his lap, trying not to look as guilty as he was starting to feel. He had a heart, contrary to popular belief, and he knew that the mouse had been through some tough times.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, before Zadavia finally spoke again.

"Loonatics, I believe that Tora has the potential to be a great asset to the team and even a great hero. She has the heart, and compassion for others needed for the job. The only thing standing in her way is her own self-doubt." She paused to look at each Loonatic, "I am going to assign you a side mission for the time being. While Tora will keep working as your cleaning lady, I want you each to do your best to help her gain her self-confidence back."

She smiled softly, "Help her scars to heal, and with time, maybe she will see the hero we know she can be. Are you up to the challenge?"

The Loonatics nodded their consent, and Zadavia swelled with pride, "Very well then. I wish you luck my Loonatics. Zadavia, out."

With that the glowing woman dissipated from the comm ink, and ace reached over to turn the machine off. He stood and stretched his arms over his head, the clapped his hands once to get everyone's attention,

"Well," he said at the teams questioning looks, "Now seems like a poifect time ta start out new mission."

"What did you have in mind, chief?" Tech asked curiously

Ace grinned at them all, "What say we go surprise someone at school? Lets show dose kids just how special Tora is."

/

What Ace meant by that, is that today Tora was running an errand she would rather skip for the rest of her life. She had to drop off the school work she had done for the first half of the semester, and pick up the work she would need for the next.

You see, when I had arranged for Tora to homeschool herself, the principal had agreed after a certain amount of evidence was given that the change would be for Tora's own safety, not for indulgence. He did however suggest that she continue with the schools criteria instead of starting a government program from scratch. It would make the workload easier on Tora, but there was one catch. It meant Tora would have to return periodically to the center of her torment.

_**There's a girl**_

_**Who sits under the bleachers**_

_**Just another day eating alone**_

_**And though she smiles**_

_**There is something just hiding**_

So now she sat there as the principal went over the work she had done, rubbing her arm self-consciously. She wasn't nervous being in the principals presence, strangely enough. He was a grandfatherly looking man, with fair and kind eyes. The only problem, is that he was pretty unaware of what went on in his own hallways. What he didn't understand is that things like animosity and bullying are like a chameleon. If it doesn't want to be found, it finds ways to blend in with its surroundings while also taking out it's pretty without being caught. If it wasn't obvious, the teachers weren't going to notice, or care, and neither would the principal sadly enough.

_**And she cant find a way to relate..**_

_**But She just goes unnoticed**_

_**As the crowd passes by**_

_**And she'll pretend to be busy**_

_**When inside she just wants to cry**_

_**She'll say...**_

"Magnificent work, as usual" He said fondly after reading over one of Tora's essays, "Honestly Tora, I think you keep our grade point average afloat all on your own."

Tora smiled bashfully, "I-I'm sure that's not true, sir." It wasn't that Tora was overly smart or a genius like Tech, she just did the fricken work and worked hard on it. That's all it really takes.

The principal smiled and folded his hands on the desk, "While I have you here, Tora, I've been meaning to ask. Have you decided whether or not you will walk with your peers at graduation this coming may? Or will you receive your diploma in the mail?"

He gave her a look like he didn't much like the second option, and Tora knew it.

She looked down sadly, griping her arm a little tighter, "I….I don't know…"she answered truthfully.

_**Take a little look at the life of Miss Always Invisible**_

_**Look a little harder,**_

_**I really really want you to put yourself in her shoes**_

The principal sighed, "Tora, I don't need to remind you that you only get to experience high school graduation once," He gave her an imploring look, "Don't you want to celebrate all of your accomplishments with your fellow students? Ones that you've known a good portion of your life?"

Too bad most of those fellow students made her life a living nightmare, or that might have had more sentiment to it.

"I-I'll think about it sir.." she said, to pacify him. Hoping to buy herself a little more time to think about it.

Thankfully, the man nodded his approval, "Good."

He stood with Tora, and patted her shoulder as he walked her out of the office,

"Take care of yourself, my dear." He said, before turning back into his office.

She made a brief noise of acknowledgment at what he said, and braced herself for what was to come, what she truly dreaded every time she came here. Facing her own classmates.

She turned the door and forced herself out, hugging the newly retrieved schoolwork so tightly to her chest she left imprints on her shirt from the corners of the books. She closed the door tightly around her and tried to make herself as small as possible as she entered the fray of the busy hallway.

She hated being here, she hated everything about this place. The jarringly loud silver bells hung up here in there, specifically to scare the living daylights out of students, the chemically clean smell of the mopped floors, the gum stuck obnoxiously to the window panes. The crude messages scrawled in small writings on some of the walls. Everything about it was intimidating, and that was without the students around.

_**Take another look at the face of Miss Always Invisible**_

_**Look a little closer**_

_**and maybe then you will see why she waits for the day**_

_**When you'll ask her her name…**_

Some of the newer students, who hadn't been there when she had, give her curious but mostly passive looks, and ignored her. However, there were some regrettably familiar faces in the crowd as well.

She could hear them snickering behind their hands and faint whispers, and saw pointing out of the corner of her eye. People would purposefully ram their shoulders against hers to the point where it was painful. Valiantly, Tora tried to ignore it and just get out as fast as she could.

_**In The beginning, in the first weeks of class**_

_**She did everything to try and fit in**_

_**But the others they couldn't seem to get past**_

_**all the things that mismatched on the surface**_

But of course things are never that easy.

Someone stuck their foot in her path, and not seeing it, she tripped with a yelp, landing on the hard floor and barely catching herself in time to keep her nose from ramming into it. There was laughter, and she heard a boy mutter cruelly,

"Go home freak show, no one wants you here."

_**And she would close her eyes when they left**_

_**and as she fell down the stairs**_

_**And the more that they joked**_

_**And the more that they screamed**_

_**She retreated to where she is now**_

She shuddered and repressed a few unwanted tears. She knew that voice. It was the same boy that had threatened to cut her tail off.

_**And she'll sing...**_

She painfully sat up on her knees and set about gathering her materials, but jumped when there was a shout.

"Dat's enough!"

Now that voice was familiar too.

_**Take a little look at the life of Miss Always Invisible**_

_**Look a little harder I really,**_

_**really want you to put yourself in her shoes, yeah, yeah**_

_**Take a little look at the face of Miss Always Invisible**_

_**Look a little closer and maybe then**_

_**you will see why she waits for the day that**_

_**you will ask her name**_

Tora looked up sharply, to see all six Loonatics approaching the scene. Her fellow students gaped along with her at the sight. They may not be supportive of Anthros, but they knew when to respect a superhero when they saw one. They backed out of the way and made a path to Tora where she was kneeling. They gaped even more when Lexi kneeled down to help the girl gather her things.

"You okay Tora?" She asked quietly.

It took the shy mouse a second to answer, being thoroughly thrown for a loop, but finally she nodded, "M-Mmhmm."

She was even more surprised when she felt a strong grip on her arm, and looked up to see Duck helping her to her feet. He didn't meet her eyes, but his beak was drawn in an uncharacteristically grim line.

Lexi held onto tora's books, for her, and sent a glare to the boy that had tripped her, who was shrugging into his oversized jacket and looking away like he had done nothing wrong. He tried to walk away, but he bumped into Tech, who had been waiting for him to make an escape. The coyote growled in his throat, but didn't bare his teeth. It was just enough intimidation to let the boy know he wanted him to stay right where he was. Slam however had no qualms with letting a little bit of his sharp teeth show, as he glared down at the punk.

Rev was interrupted in his own stare down with the kids, when ace patted his shoulder,

"Hey rev." He said, making sure it was clear and loud so everyone could hear," Why don't you take our friend, Tora, home? We'll be right behind ya."

Some of the kids gaped and looked at Tora, who flushed under their scrutiny. They couldn't believe the kid they treated like nothing was friends with the cities greatest heroes.

Tora's blush only got worse when Rev sped over and scooped her up bridal style in his arms.

"You-got-it-Ace!-Lets-go-Tora!" He said before taking off, leaving char marks on the tile floor. The kids could hear an alarmed Tora screaming along the way with how fast they were going.

Ace looked at the char marks with a smirk for a moment before bringing his own glare to the punk kid before him, "Now den," He said, eerily quiet, "Let's get down ta business."

Some of the students dispersed warily, not liking his tone or the angry looks on the rest of the superheroes faces. The punk sent an imploring look to Lexi, thinking that as a woman, she would have some sympathy for him. She smirked and walked flippantly away to talk to a curious teacher who had poked his head into the hallway. She had to assure him that the boys wouldn't HURT the punk.

But they might make him pee himself. Just a little.

"We'll warn you once, and only once kid," Tech growled at the punk, "and that goes for all of you!" He shouted to some of the other kids who had stuck around to see what happened, "If you ever think about picking on Tora again, you'll regret it."

The punk spluttered, "You can't threaten me man! You're a superhero!"

Ace nodded his head beguilingly, "True," He acknowledged, before smirking, "but a 'course, we can't be held responsible if we forget to keep Slam in line when he's hungry…"

The punk sent a terrified glance at the Tasmanian devil, who liked his chops and played along, letting his fangs gleam in the fluorescent lights of the hallway.

And that, was that.

/

Rev glanced down at the girl in his arms. After she had gotten over her initial embarrassment of her position (which Rev wasn't entirely what was so embarrassing about it.) She had gone very quiet as she stared at her hands, folded in her lap. The wind blew her black hair all around, but she didn't pay it any attention when it whipped her face numerous times. Her ears and eyes were all droopy and sad again.

Rev thought about tickling her again to make her smile, but now didn't seem like an appropriate time.

That was when he got an idea.

He slowed down so Tora wouldn't go flying out of his arms because of inertia when he stopped, and she looked up at him curiously when he finally did. She squeaked when Rev suddenly swung her around so she was now on his back, and she instinctively curled her arms around his neck to stay upright,

"Hang-on-tight-and-close-your-eyes-Tora." He said quickly, smiling.

"W-why?" she asked, somewhat suspiciously.

"Just-Do-It."

Tora gave him an apprehensive look, but did as he said, wrapping her arms a little tighter around his neck and hanging on, closing her eyes.

Rev grinned, and extended his arms out, jumping up and flapping them a few times to start.

And he started to fly

Tora gasped at the sudden rushing of air and the pull of gravity trying to pull her back down. She squeezed Rev's neck tighter and hid her face in his shoulder as he hovered in the air for a moment, giving her a nearly weightless feeling that made her stomach spin.

"R-Rev!" she nearly screamed as he started to glide again, and the weightless feeling went mostly away. Though she did float a little ways off of Rev's back as he flew.

"Relax-Tora,-I-got-ya." The avian said reassuringly. He waited a few moments, flying as smoothly as he could, getting used to the feel of having someone on his back. He wasn't used to carrying people when he flew, only once with Rip had he done it before, and that was for an emergency, and all the other Loonatics had machines that helped them fly, so he didn't need to carry them.

But there was something so freeing about flying with the constraints of a machine, something so wonderful about it.

He wanted Tora to share that feeling.

"You-can-open-your-eyes-now." He said.

Tora gulped, shaking her head, and burying her face farther into Rev's shoulder,

"I can't" she gasped, "I'm scared!"

"Just-trust-me." Rev said calmly.

It took a moment or two, but Tora finally gathered her courage enough to crack an eye open. The wind stung it for a moment but she tried again, slowly opening her eyes and looking around her. Her mouth fell open at the sight before her.

They were high above any of the buildings in Acmetropolis, almost as high as the Loonatics headquarters. It was terrifying, but somewhere inside Tora new that Rev wouldn't let her fall. So she was able to appreciate the true beauty off all that surrounded her.

The orange skies of Acmetropolis were slowly turning a faint pink and then purple as the sun went down for the early evening of winter, the lights of the buildings below were staring to turn on and shimmer like stars on earth as the sky got darker. The cars looked like ants from up here, busily going about their business even though the day was ending, and she couldn't even see the people. It was so peaceful, just flying above all the noise and chaos

"Beautiful," she said softly, but rev heard, and he smiled. He knew she'd like it up here.

For some time Rev let Tora enjoy herself, but there was something bugging him and eventually it go to the point where he couldn't hold it in anymore.

"hey-Tora?"

"Yes?"

Rev frowned, looking down at the city below as he dealt with his own confusion on his feelings,

"That-boy-back-at-the-school,-the-one-that-tripped-you-? He-didn't…he-didn't-hurt-you-did-he?"

Tora blinked at the unusually slowish pace Rev was speaking, and decided she'd better answer.

"N-no, im alright."

Rev nodded , and Tora could feel him breathe a sigh of relief underneath her, "Good."

"I-I'm not too heavy am i?" She asked and he shook his head.

"You're-light-as-a-feather!" He said cheerfully, banking slightly to the right to prove his point, chuckling when Tora yelped and hung on tight in a panic.

"T-that's not funny," She said, thought she couldn't help but smile at the childish giggle Rev gave her.

Rev looked over his shoulder and grinned, "That's-better."

Tora blinked, taken aback, "What?"

Rev pointed at her face for a moment before stretching his arms out again (balance was very important when flying) "You're-smiling-again,i-like-it-much-better-when-you-smile-tora!"

Tora blinked and stared down at him, suddenly realizing now why he had been making an effort to get her to smile these past few weeks.

_**Then one day, just the same as the last**_

_**Just, the days been in counting the time**_

_**Came a boy, that sat under the bleachers**_

_**just a little bit further behind...**_

Tora smiled again happily, leaning down before she could get second thoughts, and squeezed gently enough to let him know it was a hug instead of her panicking again.

"Thank you…"

**God I loved writing this chapter! Anyways, before i forget, the song I used is called "Miss always invisible." Which I don't own. I also wanted to tell you that I did some concept art of Tora, you can find it on my deviant profile**

**My name there is the same here kisasohmacookie, just search it in the search bar and some of my work shoudl pop up, if you click on my name on a piece, it'll bring you to my recent work.**

**hope you enjoyed the chapter, read and review please! : )**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7, already. Wow this story is fun to write, I'm glad so many people are enjoying it as much as I am, :3 **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Loonatics Unleashed**

A few more weeks had gone by and Tora's time with the Loonatics had her growing stronger more and more each day. In body and in mind. She could now lift a whole pack of flour without my help (snort) nah, I kidd, she could do much more than that.

Ace had showed her how to easily flip someone over her shoulder if they attacked from behind, and I willingly volunteered for her to show me . She apologized profusely afterwards and the wind had been knocked out of me, but it was the happiest pain I'd ever been in. This only escalated when I gave her a weak thumbs up, and seeing her face light up with pride in herself.

Pride, now there was an emotion that I had not seen in Tora for quite some time now.

You're probably wondering why on earth I would volunteer for something like that, or why I was in the training room in the first place. I don't have powers, so why the hell was I in Loonatics headquarters?

It's simple really, I refuse to be left out of the fun.

When I have work, of course, I couldn't come over. And I did try and keep my distance if I felt like I'd be interrupting something important. But I wanted to be a part of this healing process for Tora, I wanted to feel like I could do something for her, even if it was just standing around and letting her talk about her day with the Loonatics, and what she has seen ,heard ,and learned.

You've gotta understand, these past few years I've not only been Tora's big brother, I've sorta acted as her mom and dad too, all in one big package. I can be pretty overprotective, and I'm not going to let her go willy nilly, as much as I like the Loonatics.

I wasn't ready for them to take her completely away from me. I don't think I'll ever be. So the best thing for me to do is insert myself into the Loonatics lives as much as Tora's, that way she'll never have to choose.

Me? Pushy? Well I have no idea what you're talking about..

I shivered in the now mid winter cold, and wrapped my baby blue cashmere scarf a little tighter around my neck. I had a sleek looking trench coat with fake fur on the inside (cuz real fur? Ick.) to keep my nice and warm but prevented the puffiness that one would usually get with a winter coat. I rubbed my hands together with my black leather gloves, and looked both ways down the street before following the bustling crowd across it.

Speaking of the Loonatics, I was actually heading to the headquarters now. Besides keeping a watchful eye on Tora, I actually really liked hanging out with them. They were all, besides their powers, really cool people.

Well, maybe not Duck, but that was mostly the way he acted.

When they had free time, I took my own turn in getting to know all of them. I'd occasionally look through Lexi's closet with her and give her some fashion advice. In fact I had made it a rule that whenever she bought something new she'd let me see it on her first, to make sure it worked. She's a gorgeous girl and she needs to show it, as well as be kickass. That, and I could see the romantic tension pulsing between her and Ace like a fricken static flow, pulling them closer together.

What can I say? I'm a natural born matchmaker.

It was hard for me to like Duck, because his utter narcissism was borderline insufferable (I won't mention how it's also sort of similar to my own personality) That and he often lost his temper with Tora, which just brought out the protective mama-er-papa bear in me. I wouldn't actually hit the guy though, unlike his teammates. I got revenge in my own way. This usually meant making a romantic pass or hitting on him in some way, until he got this hilariously freaked out expression on his face and quacked out of there. I don't think the mallard is homophobic, but I do think I make him a bit nervous. It's awesome

I actually do this a lot. I'm not a pacifist, but I'm not exactly violent either (why mess up my hair r clothes by getting into a fight. I figured out a long time ago that as nice as it would be to have everyone accept the fact that I'm gay, some people just wont. So if someone (usually it was a fella) was trying to get me down by making fun of my sexuality? I'd flirt with them some, just enough to make them squirm. I can be quite a convincing flirt after all, I think some people have actually forgotten I'm a guy in total. The looks on the straight guy's face's when they realized it was the best thing ever. Some guys haven't been able to tell I seriously like them because I tend to joke about everything. But Whatevs.

As fun as it was to mess with Duck, I have to say, my favorite victim as of late was Tech. I wouldn't flirt with him to be mean, most of the time it was just to lightly tease him. His reactions were actually funnier than Duck's. His fur would stand on end and he'd get this cute little blush and start spluttering and stuttering over his words. It's hilarious and adorable at the same time

It's funny, because Tora once asked me if I had feelings for Tech, and I wasn't really sure what to tell her. The guy's not really my type, (despite what a cute butt he has) so I wasn't gonna chase after him if nothing was there, I had no idea if the coyote was gay or straight. I was just having fun.

But if he asked me out, I wouldn't say no. (wink)

Ace would usually see these antics of mine, and laugh good naturedly. Which I appreciated honestly, you don't often get guys that just go with the flow like that, especially when another guy is hitting on one of your best friends. The Rabbit had a sense of humor, and with that, we had a connection. We also liked to keep a quiet but watchful eye on our makeshift families. We had an unspoken understanding of sorts.

Slam and me? Well there wasn't much to tell. Slam was just a good guy, and we got along well. I also impressed him with my knowledge of wrestling..

What? I may be gay but I'm still a guy. That was bound to show through in at least a few ways.

And rev…well, I wasn't too sure how I felt about Rev. he was a good kid yeah, and I liked him as a person, but I was torn on how I felt about him concerning Tora. The romantic in me wanted them to hurry up and see what was in front of them. They both were so completely oblivious (rev more so than Tora I think, just because of his innocent nature) that sometimes I just wanted to shake them and scream for them to kiss already. Then the big brother in me wanted to punch him in the face if he event thought about getting close to Tora. It was quite a conflicting predicament you see.

For now I was just going to quietly observe. So long as Rev made Tora happy, then he was okay by me. But out of all the Loonatics, I think he was the one I worried about taking Tora away from me the most.

I smiled at the bitter sweet feeling that realization brought, and pressed the buzzer on the garage door of the Loonatics headquarters

Once they let me in I hung my coat up next to Tora's, walking to the elevator and pressing the button for the level I knew Tech's Lab was on.

I was surprised to see Ace conversing with the coyote, looking at some statistics on the large computer screen Tech liked to ponder in front of so often. Normally I found Rev scurrying around in here, touching and fiddling with things much to Techs chagrin.

"I don't get it. For the longest time villains were popping up almost every day. But lately we've had up to 3 days at a time with not a peep, and when we do get something to fight, it's always some wannabe villain."

Ace nodded his head, rubbing his chin in thought as he contemplated all of the video feeds of their top worst villains. So far, all of them had been in their cells with nothing suspicious to be reported happening to them or from them. No black-holes, not pen gizmos, no robots. Nothing.

"I don't like it Tech." the rabbit said, having nothing else he could say, "I got a bad feeling all da way in my lucky foot. Keep keepin an eye on all of dem."

Tech nodded, "Got it chief."

I thought now was a good time to sashay In there and act like I hadn't been eavesdropping.

I play acted by yawning loudly, stretching my arms above my head and making them turn at the sudden noise.

"Evening boys." I greeted with a lazy grin.

"Heya Cal." Ace sad, smirking.

"Hey." Tech said, smiling, but I could tell he was being wary of me.

I smirked, oho, time for the fun to begin.

I slid my arms around his neck and he sat straight up, yelping.

"You're so warm" I whispered to him. He shot straight out of his chair and out of my arms, stalking awkwardly away and muttering how he had to run some calculations. I sat in his chair snickering and Ace shook his head.

"How's the training going?" I asked the yellow suited rabbit, even though I knew already. I just felt like making conversation.

He rose an eyebrow, "She's getting better everyday, today she managed to finally lift the 50 pound weight. Only one rep, but eh, it's a start."

I grinned, leaning back in techs chair and crossing my legs, "It's doing more than just improving her physical status Ace. I've never seen Tora so excited to leave the house in the morning. She honestly can't wait to see you all every day."

Ace smiled and scratched the back of his neck, and Tech poked his head out of whatever he was messing with in his lab.

My grin morphed into a more sincere smile, "I want to thank you guys. Really, you have no idea how much it means to see her so happy. It may be happening slowly, but I think the damage done inside of her is finally starting to heal."

Tech nodded, "We're doing all we can to get her confidence back up to par. I don't think she quite realizes yet that Ace's training is for more than just her protection."

I rose an eyebrow at his statement and looked at Ace, "Coyote say wha?"

Ace gave me this sheepish look, "We're sort of hoping that once she gets a bit more confidence in herself, Tora will join the team."

I gaped. I'd been waiting to hear those words for so long, but I never thought they'd drop out of Ace's mouth without prompting on my part.

"You really want her to join? truly?" I asked

Ace blinked, seemingly taken aback by my reaction, "Er, I can undastand you wouldn't want that, I mean it is dangerous woik but-"

"Are you joking?!" I exclaimed popping out of Tech's seat. I heard the coyote yelp, he must have hit his head on the contraption he was working on when I surprised him by yelling.

"That's great news! I always knew Tora had the right stuff to join the team but I wasn't sure if anyone else would see it I knew it I knew it! Yes! My little Tora's gonna be a Loonatic!"

Ace chuckled at the happy/utter excitement dance I was doing, "Yeah, well, we're hoping she'll agree to. Her powas could really be handy out dere, tell him Tech."

Ace looked over at green suited coyote, who was still rubbing his head and giving a rueful look at the machine he was working on, before he looked at me.

"We've managed to convince Tora to practice a little more with her powers," He started, opening his palmtop computer to look at some of the test results, "We've found that not only can Tora turn herself invisible, she has the ability to turn other things too. We knew this already with her clothes, but she must have learned how to do that early on. It takes a great amount of concentration for her to phase out other objects, but she can. Eventually, she should be able to phase out an entire other body besides hers. I can't even list how many situations that power would be helpful in,"

I clasped my hands in front of my mouth, it's a wonderful feeling to know you were right about something that everybody else had said wasn't true.

"Tora's power ISNT useless, I knew it. I told her." I said to myself more than the others. Ace put a supportive hand on my shoulder.

"We aren't sure if she's ready to hear dat offer quiet yet, but you know her betta than anyone else here. Maybe you could mention the idea of it in passing."

My happy feeling sort of dissipated. Ah, there was the catch

"I don't know, I've been mentioning the idea to her for some time now. Even before she started working here. " I sighed and rubbed my temples, "She's so convinced that her power is useless and cowardly. I don't know how much meaning it will take on if I mention it now…" I shrugged, not used to this feeling of doubt, "But I'll try."

Ace nodded, "Dat's all we can ask. We just don't wanna scare her off again."

I smiled, "I don't think you'll have to worry about that now. She may not voice it or show it all the time, but Tora loves you guys, all of you."

"How can you tell?" Tech asked me, leaning back on his hands to give me a curious look.

I smiled at him, one of my cryptic smiles that told him I knew more than I let on. Usually because I did.

"I just can." I said softly, before walking out of the lab, pausing at the door to look over my shoulder, "I'm gonna go find Tora, she'll be wondering where I am."

No sooner had I said that, Lexi's voice resonated over the speakers.

"Hey guys! Zadavia's online, looks like we've finally got some action!"

Ace offered Tech a hand to stand from the floor, and I stepped out of the way as they jogged out of Techs lab,

"Duty calls!" Ace said cheerfully as he passed.

I gave them a thumbs up, "Be safe!" I called out

"Always!" Tech responded as they left.

Pretty soon a red blur barreled past me followed by a purple tornado and I could hear Duck quack somewhere within the vicinity. I shook my head and continued my way towards the lounge.

Finding Tora wasn't hard to do. She smiled at me as she bustled around the kitchen like a bumblebee collecting nectar, stirring pots, cutting up vegetables, washing dishes. Her work ethic was tremendously good once she fell into a good rhythm.

Speaking of which, it was way too quiet in here. Tora may flourish in silence, but I do not. I needed some tunes

Oh look, a conveniently placed MP3 speaker jack left out specifically for me by Lexi XD

I plugged in my MP3 player which automatically began to play an upbeat hip hop tune, and I danced around the room as Tora rolled her eyes good-naturedly at me. I wanted to keep her as cheerful I could before I dropped the proverbial bombshell on her. So I picked her up in a mock waltz while she was distracted. She yelped at first but was soon giggling and pushing me off her.

"You're certainly in a good mood today Cal," she said laughing as I bowed at her exaggeratedly.

"It's been a great day," I leaned against the counter as she towel dried a few dishes. Deep breaths, Cal, here I go.

"So Tora," I started nonchalantly, "I hear you've been doing really well with your training. Ace says you're getting better and better each day."

Tora flushed bashfully, "I-I wouldn't say that. I' m still not terribly strong. B-but I've learned so much thanks to Ace and the others. They're the best teachers in the world."

I smiled, feeling a warm feeling of hope melt through my chest.

"So," I started crossing my arms and leaning on them on the counter, looking at her sheepishly from between the fringe of my hair, "Have you thought about it yet?"

"Thought about what?" she asked, drying her hands on a dish towel.

I shrugged, "Joining the team."

She froze for a few seconds, and I felt the warmth I had felt start to chill with nerves. I hated those moments, where you couldn't tell if something was going for the better, or worse.

Tora set the dish towel down slowly, her brown eyes looking far away. I could tell she was thinking, which was more than she used to do when I brought this topic up.

"I..." she trailed off uncertainly, "I don't know…"

"Why don't you know? Either you do, or you don't. which is it?" This was a big step, and I was impatient to find out if she'd go forward or back.

She was quiet, looking conflicted, and I pressed forward.

"It could be you out there, "I said softly, "It could be you saving people, helping people out there every day with the Loonatics." I touched her arm imploringly, "You love to help people Tora, it's what you were meant to do."

Tora smiled at me, a little sadly, "It makes me happy that you think so Cal…but…"

"No 'but'!" I shouted suddenly, making her jump. I felt a pang of guilt but kept going. It was like all the patience I had had was suddenly wearing thin. I wanted results and I wanted the results I wanted, dammit. I know that sounds selfish, I know it is selfish, but I was too frustrated with my little sis to really think straight at the time it happened.

"When are you going to start treating your powers like a gift, instead of a curse!" I exclaimed, fists clenched at my sides. Tora backed up a little, looking nervous and surprised, "Everybody realizes it, why can't you?! C'mon Tora, I see the way you watch them. I know deep down you really want to join the team but you're still holding yourself back from what would make _you_ truly happy! Why?!"

Tora's lip was trembling, and I felt terrible. Tora never responded well to yelling, I knew that better than anyone. Yet I still backed her into a corner. It was the worst thing I've ever done to her.

"I can't" she said, her voice warbly because she was trying to keep from crying, "I just can't."

I bit my lip, keeping back the worst of what was resulting in my utter disappointment.

"Can't Tora? Or won't?"

Tora rubbed her eyes, looking miserable. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she thought about what I said,

"I won't." she said, looking heartbroken, "for everyone's sake I won't."

I felt hollow, and I could tell I hadn't masked it on my face before Tora could see it. I didn't even have to say anything after that for her to know how let down I was.

The mouse's head bent in shame, like I had just added a 50 point weight onto her small shoulders when she was already carrying so much. But I couldn't find the words to make it better. For either of us.

I stormed out, feeling defeated for the first time is so long. I didn't trust myself not to blow up at her with how frustrated I felt. What did it matter anyway?

Tora stood stock still in the kitchen, even when the oven beeped, signaling that it was preheated enough for dinner to start cooking. She felt hollow too.

She leaned over and turned off the music I had been playing, and sluggishly went about finishing dinner, soon sliding it in to the oven to cook.

Instead of carrying on with her cleaning duties, she sat heavily on the couch, staring at her hands. She couldn't even find the will to cry at the moment.

She was tired. Not physically, just tired of feeling this way. Feeling like a coward, always hiding from everybody, . She hated letting Cal down when he put so much faith in her. She hated how scared she was, of everything, of everybody. But every time she tried, all she could see were those faces. Sneering at her, yelling at her, laughing at her. People she had at one point called friend. But they had betrayed her so many times. At one point, she began to think it was her fault, they actually made her believe she deserved to be treated that way.

But..

"I didn't' do anything to them…" She said to herself ruefully, "I didn't do anything. So why?"

No sooner than she had made this quiet revelation, That the silence of the lounge was ruptured by an explosion, coming from somewhere in the headquarters. Tora jumped with a gasp, feeling the floor shake under her. The lamp over the table swung and a light bulb fell out and shattered on the floor.

She stood, clutching her hands nervously in front of her, looking around her. This was why she had been going through training, Ace had said that on occasion the enemy would try to attack the Loonatics from within their stronghold. But she hadn't expected it to happen so soon.

She gulped, trying to keep calm and not panic, like Ace had told her. First thing was first, try and find a place to hide until help could come. She quickly and quietly crept to the kitchen area, where she knew there was a cupboard that had yet to be filled with anything. She crawled into it and curled up, closing the door behind her slowly so it shut silently. She flinched when she heard the lounge doors being knocked down from the outside. She closed her hands over her mouth to keep from crying out. She could hear the voices of the attackers.

"Alright big-head, what should we do with these two?" a young man's voice said form outside. It was smooth and charismatic, like silk, like it could talk you into jumping over a cliff if you got lost in it. But there was a somewhat sinister tone to it that could only be heard if you were as conscious of such things as Tora was. "Now that I've stolen their powers, they can't be useful anymore."

"That is why I do the brain work, and you are the muscle. They are still plenty of use to us, after all, we'll need bait to catch that mangy dog and the other beasts." This voice was different, female but not nearly as smooth as the first. In fact it was sort of shrill, and bitter.

Gathering as much courage as she could muster, Tora propped the door open a sliver and peeked out. Her eyes widened by what she saw,

It was Sypher and Mastermind, she knew what they looked like because she had seen their files being looked at numerous times by Tech and other members. They hadn't seen hide nor tail of them, until now. Next to them, in a containment bubble, were and unconscious Rev and Lexi.

She had to fight the urge to go to them. She wanted to shake them awake and make sure they were okay, but her legs were frozen with fear.

_What do I do?_ She thought, _Oh god, what do I do?!_

**Cliffhanger, your welcome. X)**

**Hopefully this chapter gave you an even better idea of who Cal is and how he operates. And now we get to the fun part, the action! Reviews are love, they help me write faster.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Alrighty. Time to listen to some motivational tough girl music. Hopefully it will inspire not only me, but Tora too. My playlist is armed with **

**Fighter-Christina Agulaira**

**Survivor: Destiny's child**

**Never underestimate a girl: Vanessa Hudgeons**

**Hopefully I spelled their names right.**

**Here we go!**

**Declaimer: I do not own Loonatics unleashed, Tora and Cal, however are mine.**

Tora tried not to shift too much where she hid in the cupboard, so she wouldn't give away her position. However, since Sypher had stolen Lexi's super hearing, it did little good.

The red haired man paused where he stood leering at the unconscious forms of Rev and Lexi, and stood straight, looking towards the kitchen area.

"I hear something, breathing." He said sharply. Tora's blood ran cold.

"Brilliant. It's not as if there are two unconscious bodies in front of you, or a super genius next to you. Where on earth could the breathing be coming from?" Mastermind said sarcastically. Sypher glared at her before using Rev's super speed to tear over to the kitchen area. He slapped open the first set of cabinets, the resulting bang enough to jumpstart Tora so she could close her eyes and concentrate. Within a millisecond she phased out of visibility. Just in time before Sypher thrust open the cabinet door and peered inside, the broom that Tora had set there beigng knocked over to the floor in the process.

Tora covered her mouth with her hand, staring in horror at the man hovering just inches away from her. She didn't move, not even to lean out of the way as he turned his head to look around the cabinet. Her heart was beating so hard she was surprised he couldn't hear _that_ It almost didn't register in her mind when he finally turned and slammed the door closed, moving on to the next and the next, until he gave up, finding nothing.

"You fool." Mastermind said disdainfully.

"Hey, you never know. One of the Loonatics could have snuck back here and we wouldn't know it."

"And how on earth do you propose they did that? Weathervane and Massive just send me a status report, they both have the other Loonatics quite well in hand, A fake Distress signal as we speak is leading the dog and the Tasmanian back here so we can take them out. Remember, the Loonatics work best as a group, if they are split up, their power is depleted" A wicked grin spread across the woman's bulbous head, "By the time Tech gets here, and realizes it wasn't his friends that sent the signal, it will be too late. I'll blast them both out of the sky and then he'll be just like his friends here. And once the other two are captured, the plan can commence in its fullness."

She cackled, a high and awful shrill sound. Tora flinched, feeling her panic rise.

'_I have to warn them!' _She thought, though she knew she couldn't. if she tried to contact Ace or Tech right now they would catch her for sure. All she could do is sit and wait, while Sypher made himself comfy on the Loonatics couch, kicking Ace's meditation platform so it crashed against the wall and propping his boots on the coffee table.

"You stay here and keep an eye on them," Mastermind said, walking towards the door, "I'm going to go have some fun with Tech's little toys before he gets here. Surely you can handle this simple task."

Sypher made a few faces to mock her behind her back, and sulked as the doors swished closed. He and Tora were left alone with their thoughts.

Tora was on the verge of a full blown panic attack, _'What do I do? I-f I don't do something…Rev...Tech, all of them. T-they'll be hurt."_

_**What do you think you can do? **_A voice echoed from a long time ago, harsh and cruel. The faces she remembered earlier, the same glaring, cruel faces from before hovered in her memory, trying to crush whatever glimmer of hope, or even an idea, existed.

_**Look at you! You can't even hit us back! You're a freak! A coward! Do the world a favor and just disappear! You'll cause a lot less problems for us, and yourself that way.**_

Tora shook her head, clutching her hands over her ears even though she knew it wouldn't do any good.

_Leave me alone! My friends, they're in trouble!_

_**And yet you won't do anything, you'll just sit there and take it. Pathetic.**_

Tora could feel tears stinging her eyes, her head felt so full yet those horrible memories could still shout the loudest, over all the noise.

_I-I know, I was pathetic. I should have done something, I should have stood up for myself. I shouldn't have relied on other people to protect me and should have protected myself. I know…I'm sorry_

She scrunched her eyes shut, trying to shut out the horrible faces, Time, she needed time! But there was none. She had to do something soon or Tech and Ace would fall for the traps laying for them

_I hate this so much! I hate feeling so…so helpless all the time! Why can't I ever do anything right? Why can't I be brave like them? I-I want to be brave!_

Tora looked out of the small crack in the cabinet, looking at the slowly rousing forms of Lexi and Rev, they groaned in pain.

_M-More than anything… I want to be brave for them. I want to protect them, I want to save them!_

Tora's eyes widened, and she realized.

She wanted to protect her friends more than she wanted to protect herself.

She knew what she had to do, and she was scared. She was so scared she could hardly stand it. Nonetheless, she took a deep, nearly meditative breath, like Ace had shown her.

_Please,_ se prayed silently, to whoever cared to listen, _Please, help me find my courage, help me save them. _

She couldn't waste anymore time, before she could change her mind, Tora eased the cabinet door open. The hinges were creak free thanks to an oiling she had had the foresight to do a few weeks ago. She crawled out of the cabinet, sticking low to the floor.

Sypher had stood from his position to taunt the now awakened Loonatics being contained. He was so distracted with rubbing their capture in their faces, he forgot all about monitoring the extra set of breathing lungs he had heard before.

She knew that she wasn't nearly strong enough to take him on in hand to hand combat, besides that she'd lose her powers and be fully exposed if she touched him, Tech had told her that much about the villain. But if she had a weapon.

That was when she noticed her broom, laying on the ground in a seemingly defeated fashion.

"Sypher, when we get out of here.." Lexi snarled at the villain, in sharp contrast with her normally laid back nature.

Sypher crossed his arms cockily leaning his face gloatingly close the glass of the containment bubble, "The next time you get out of there bunny, is when your on your way to the Acmetropolis morgue. So save the tough guy talk for someone who cares."

Lexi angrily punched the glass where his face hovered, the resulting shock of the security energy effectively making Sypher take a step back warily. Lexi rubbed her hand, which had been burnt from the warning shock the security field had given her.

Rev was about to throw his own insults at the villain, when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye.

There was a broom, floating seemingly by itself closer and closer to Sypher

But Rev new better,

Tora crept behind the villain as silently as she could, haven taking off her shoes so her socked feet would have muffled footsteps on the plush carpet. She took a deep breath, preparing herself for what was to come,

_Courage Tora.._

Tora narrowed her eyes, and swung her broom as hard as she could, nailing the villain right in the hip, making him cry out and stumble to the side out of shock.

"What the-?!"

His eyes widened when he saw the broom hovering by itself in front of him,

"A g-ghost?"

Tora swung the broom again, hitting the backs of his knees and sweeping his legs out from under him, he sprawled out on the ground with a squawk. Taking advantage of the time she had, she stood in front of the containment bubble, separating her friends from him. Her mind had sort of gone numb, like all she could focus on was fighting Sypher and protecting her friends. The fear was still there, but it had quieted to just a faint glimmer in the back of her mind.

"Tora!" Rev exclaimed knowing that she was there even though he couldn't see her.

"Call Tech!" she shrieked when the villain got back to his feet looking angry, "Tell him the distress signal was a fake! It's a trap!" She ducked out fo the way when the man lunged in the general direction of her voice. She rolled on the floor out of his way, picking her broom back up when she was a safe distance away, holding it in front of her defensively. Lexi didn't mince words, she did as Tora said and murmur the message to the coyote. And not a moment too soon, Mastermind had send out missiles to shoot down the ship he and slam were traveling in and if they hadn't know before Tech wouldn't have been able to fire a few counter shots to defend them.

"Tora, huh?" Sypher said softly, the gears turning in his head as he took in the sight of the floating broom, "I take it you got powers too, huh little girl?"

Tora gripped the broom, narrowing her eyes at the villain. He didn't know what she looked like but he knew where she was as long as she was holding this. She threw it to the ground so it would land just to the side of him. She stepped lightly, like a tiger moving silently through the grass to stalk its prey. She circled him.

He was still staring at where she had been standing, holding out his hand,

"This is all just a big understanding dude," He said, turning on the smooth and silk in his voice, trying to coax her out of hiding, "Come on out and I won't hurt you."

Tora scowled at him, snakes had tried to charm her before, and she had fallen for it. She wasn't going to fall for it again.

She darted forward and grabbed her broom again, the element of surprise allowing her to strike him again from a direction he wasn't expecting. She jabbed the end of the broom, making him double over as the air rushed out of him. She willed her arms to fill with as much strength as she could, raising the broom over her head and finally wailing it over his head.

The force alone was enough to make Sypher see stars, and with a comedic and dizzy giggle, the villain fell to the floor, knocked out.

Rev and Lexi stared at the unconscious villain for a moment, jaws dropping. They knew that Tora had the potential to be a kick butt hero, but for her to take him on all by herself

And WIN?

"You did it!" Lexi cried out, reveling in her friends triumph while the mouse still couldn't seemed to get over her own shock to turn visible again, "You did it Tora!"

Tor stood there, hands still gripping the broom for dear life before she finally let it drop from her fingers, and she sunk to her knees. She needed a moment to recover,

Within the next two minutes Tech ran in the room, the lounge doors swooshing open and closed behind him. He screeched to a halt, taking in the site of Sypher out cold on the ground, and Tora kneeling a little ways away, gasping for breath and holding a hand to her heart as she tried to regain control. Rev and Lexi looked at him expectantly from their current prison.

"On it." Tech grunted, pulling out an energy lasso and quickly making work of tying up Sypher before he could regain consciousness. Next he set about freeing the roadrunner and bunny. As soon as they were, they retrieved their powers from Sypher, and were next kneeling in front of the Mouse.

For a moment Tora seemed almost catatonic in her own shock, but upon seeing her friends in front of her, she did something very uncharacteristically bold indeed.

She flung her arms out, wrapping them around each of them as best she could.

"You're alright!" She cried with relief, "You're all okay!"

Tech blinked while Lexi smiled, and Revs eyes just widened,

"Yes Tora, we're alright, thanks to you." Tech said, rubbing her arm consolingly, the poor kid was shaking like a leaf.

Tora suddenly gasped, realizing what was missing, "B-but! Massive and Weathervane! Their after Ace and Duck! A-And Mastermind."

Tech suddenly smirked, "I wouldn't worry about Mastermind, me and Slam already took care of her."

As if on cue, the grinning Tasmanian lumbered in with another containment bubble hovering behind him, and unconscious mastermind trapped inside. The Purple clad hero tossed Sypher inside like a sack of potatoes, and that was that.

"As for Ace and Duck, I just got a message from chief himself. Duck's been captured, but he's managed to lay low somewhere nearby to where this team up's base of attack seemingly is. Our next step is to go out there, meet Ace and find out what they're planning. Then we rescue duck and put a stop to it."

The rest of the team nodded, before casting a curious look to Tora.

"We can't ask you to do anymore than you've already done Tora," Lexi said, putting a supportive hand on her friends shoulder, "If you want to go home now, we can drop you off before we go...but your powers could really come in handy with this next mission."

Tora glanced down at her lap. Her hands were still trembling with her past endeavor. She was scared, and every instinct in her body and mind told her to just go home and quiet while she was ahead.

But

Ace and duck were still in danger. She had to see this to the end, if only to see them all safe and at home again.

"I..I'll go."

"Are you sure?" Tech said, staring her in the eyes to impress how serious he was, "Once you expose yourself as a Loonatic, there's no going back. You'll be a target for the rest of your life. We really want your help Tora, but we can't make you take that sacrifice," He reached out and squeezed her hand, "It has to be what _you _want."

For a few moments everyone was silent. Tora closed her eyes, thinking hard on what was surely the most important decision of her life. Finally they opened again, and she stared them all in the eyes unwaveringly for the first time

"I'll go."

**Yes! Booyah! This was an insanely fun chapter to write, and normally I don't like doing action scenes. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter. BTW as a side note, if anyone would like to use Tora as an OC in their story, I'm not adverse to doing collab stories (I just don't know how much writing ill be able to do. It's getting harder to update now that college is in full swing.)**


	9. Chapter 9

**So sorry for such a late update! Midterm season has officially hit my college, and among that I had to prepare for Another Anime Con artist alley. The good news is that the con is over and now I only have homework to balance with my writing. So I'm back! : )**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Loonatics Unleashed.**

Once Tora's decision had been made, it was like a switch had been hit. The team immediately went to work at preparing themselves and the young mouse for the battle to come. While Slam and Tech set about interrogating Mastermind and Sypher about their ultimate plan, Lexi helped get Tora fitted into one of her spare uniforms.

The suits, after all, protected their identities. If the bad guys couldn't distinguish what they looked like on the outside, they had a lesser chance of finding them outside of battle, or their families.

However, when the suits were made, they were made to fit the individual Loonatics, so Lexi's suit hung loosely on Tora in a few places.

"It'll do for now," Lexi said helping the girl tie the sleeves back a bit with rubber bands, so her gloved hands would be free from the drooping fabric. "Until we can get you a suit of your own."

Hearing that was something incredibly surreal for Tora. She had always thought joining the team would be a happier occasion, like some impossible dream. But now it only seemed like a mere afterthought in the larger picture. She nodded, her head swamped with different thoughts as worries. The only way she could cope with her own emotions was push them away till later.

She wasn't a practiced soldier though, and there were cracks in her brave façade that Rev could see clearly as they waited in the Loonatics' jet for Tech and Slam to get there. While Lexi made the necessary flight preparations to the controls, The red clad hero took some time to observe her.

She stared directly in front of her, eyes and mouth set in a grim line. But the road runner could faintly see her hands trembling where they sat clasped in her lap. They hadn't really stopped shaking since she fought Sypher.

He wanted to do something to help her, he really did. But there wasn't much he could tell her that she didn't already know. They're friends were in danger, Acmetropolis was in danger, and now they were putting _themselves_ in danger to try and stop it. It was a scary thing, and even thought it was a normal occurrence for the Loonatics at this point, to the point that if they needed to they could make jokes about it, that didn't change the fact that it was a serious situation.

The best he could do, was reach across from his seat and rest his hand gently on her shoulder. He felt her flinch for a second, but relax when soon after.

"You- doing-okay-Tora?" _Stupid question. Stupid stupid question _the roadrunner couldn't help thinking.

The Mouse girl bit her lip, before nodding resolutely, "I'll be fine." She said, almost more to herself than to Rev.

For once the roadrunner was quiet, as Tora glanced down at her hands, squeezing them and contemplating what she was going to say next.

"R-rev?"

"Yeah?" This was the first time Tora had ever started a conversation with him, not the other way around.

She couldn't look him in the eye, feeling embarrassed for what she was about to ask.

"I-I know now how much more important to me that you, my friends' safety is than my own….b-but is it still okay for me to be as scared as I am right now?"

Rev's eyes softened, and tightened his grip on her shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting way, "Yeah-Tora," he smiled a little knowingly, "that's-perfectly-okay."

The girl took a deep shuddering breath, and let it out slowly. Trying to calm her nerves now that she knew no one blamed her for being afraid.

Rev was feeling his own reservations on letting Tora go on this mission himself, so it was no wonder he didn't blame her for being scared. It was her first mission, and they were going against four, well now two, of the worst villains in Acmetropolis. She didn't have as much control over her powers as the others did, and she couldn't fight very well on her own. In many ways, Tora was probably not ready for this battle.

So the roadrunner was put into a difficult place. He knew this was the next step for Tora to gain more confidence in herself and her abilities. But at the same time, for reasons still unknown to him, he wished he could keep her somewhere sheltered and safe, away from anything that could hurt her.

But that wasn't an option. The girl had made her mind up, and she deserved for him to respect her decision.

So the roadrunner did the only thing he could do.

He gently lifted his hand from her shoulder and instead placed it over one of her quivering hands, squeezing it comfortingly. She jumped a little at the somewhat intimate contact and turned towards him.

"You-can-do-this," He said, looking her straight in the eye, "I-know-you-can."

Tora's eyes widened staring at him, while Rev looked back unwaveringly. Several people had told her the same thing many times before, but it never really took as much meaning as it did now, when Rev said it at such a serious time.

"h-how? What if I mess up? What if I can't help even if I want to? What if-"

In an extreme twist of events Rev, for once, reached out to place a hand to the Mouse's lips to make her stop talking.

"Because-you're-forgetting-one-important-thing-Tora," He started, smiling at her with confidence, "You-aren't-going-into-this-alone."

"We'll-all-be-there-with-you,so-stop-trying-to-shoulder-all-of-the-burden-onto-yourself. Being-in-a-team-means-that-we-all-share-it. Every-single-battle-we-go-into-we-know-that, If-one-of-us-goes-down, we-all-go-down. And-then-we-help-each-other-back-up. So-as-long-as-you-trust-in-that, everything-will-be-alright…can-you-do-that?

Tora took a moment to absorb everything he had said, and felt a warmth gradually flowing through her. For just one moment, the fear was completely washed away, that feeling of being trapped in a dark lonely place evaporating and was replaced with something else. Trust. How could she have spent so long running from something so wonderful?

Tora smiled, blinking back tears, and rubbed her eyes, "Yes. I can." Three words she thought she'd never say.

Rev gave her hand one last squeeze just before Tech and Slam entered the Jet, taking their seats. Everyone turned towards Tech expectantly.

"If it's one thing you can count on with Mastermind, it's that she loves to gloat," The coyote stated flatly, "With some creative reverse psychology, we managed to get the full plan out of her."

Slam was scowling seriously in his seat, looking alert ad on edge instead of his normal laid back self. That was how they knew it was bad,

"Sypher and She were meant to separate and capture us, so we'd be rendered useless while Weathervane and Massive set loose every villain inside of the max security underground prison of Acmetropolis. We'd be so busy trying to catch them all that a devastating amount of damage would be done in the areas we couldn't reach in time. With that type of distraction, it would take months to catch them, and who knows what they could accomplish in that amount of time." Tech explained grimly.

Lexi turned In her seat back to the controls sharply, "We won't have the chance to find out. Because it is NOT gonna happen. Fasten your seatbelts guys, We're going in."

Tora could feel the panic start to rise in her throat again, but closed her eyes and remembered what Rev said. She clenched her fists for a moment or two, and when she relaxed them, her trembling had stopped. She grabbed her seatbelt and strapped herself into her seat, staring determinedly out the jet windows.

"I'm ready."

/

Shortly after take off, Tech had taken Lexi's place at the main controls because only he knew how to unlock the jets true potential and speed. In no time at all, they were traveling almost as fast as Rev could go at his best, before they could see the gloomy cold looking cliffs where the prison was housed.

"Okay Tora," Tech said, not taking his eyes off the horizon, "Here's where you come in. We want as much of the element of surprise as we can get with this particular operation, so before we land I want to cloak the ship. But the problem iis that the cloaking program only works on the mechanical side fo the ship, it wont cloak organic beings, such as ourselves. Think you can do it?"

Tora gulped, she had a tough time as it was getting one person to fully disappear as well as herself, let alone four. But what choice did she have?

"I'll try." She said, unbuckling her seat belt and making her way to the center of the Loonatics rign tof seats, "But I need to have physical contact to do it."

Not a second later Rev had taken her hand, and Lexi did the same with her other. Slam grabbed Lexi's hand and completeld the link by grasping techs shoulder while he continued to operate the controls.

"Now tora!" The coyote barked, turning on the jets cloaking device.

Tora closed her eyes, and tried to excersise the mentality she used when she was first learning to turn invisible. She concentrated on blanketing each of them in a intangible baket, wrapping it around every angle and crevice on them like a cocoon. The blanket covered her with little problems, as it was used to that amount of distance, but she could feel the strain when it stretched towards Rev. She grit her teeth, willing it to stretch more and more until it fully covered Rev and hal of lexi. It didn't hurt exactly, it was more like having an elastic band being pressed against her and being pulled to its near brekaign point. It was tight and uncomfortable, but still she pushed until she could feel al of it cover Slam, and finally, Tech.

She thought the hard part was over, but the ture challenge was keeping that blanket covered over each of them unti they had landed. It was like holding that same elastic band but it was covered I water, constantly threatening to slip from her grasp. She felt a bead of sweat trickle down her forehead and she made a small noise of discomfort.

"Almost there Tora, hang on." Tech grunted.

It felt like forever until Tora could hear the deceleration of the engines underneath her as they slowly and nearly silently landed under and outcropping of cliff. Nearby was the same construction site of a new branch of the prison they were working on building when they had first met mastermind. However, a large warehouse was nearby as well.

"We're clear." Tech said, and Tora let the elastic go. She heard it snap in her head and she fell to her knees in exhaustion.

"flgooanwfla okay?" slam asked in concern, rubbing her back.

Tora took deep breaths, willing away the nausea spinning in her stomach, "I-I'm okay," she gasped, "Just need to-to catch my second wind."

The others nodded, and as they opened the door to leave, Rev scooped her up in his arms to carry her outside to find Ace. She didn't have the energy to be embarrassed about it.

It didn't take too long to find ace, who was glancing over his shoulder from behind a small outcropping he had taken shelter behind. He was favoring his right shoulder, covering it with his right hand. Tech automatically made the assumption that it had been dislocated in the previous fight

"Dey got Duck," Ace said through gritted teeth while the coyote popped his joint back into place, "their gonna take control of dat huge drill the constructin woikers got in that warehouse. "

"The prison walls are made of a metal that can only be broken through with a certain type of alloy of its caliber, the drill in the warehouse is made of that alloy." Tech explained, while ace rolled his shoulder to shake the pain off.

"Naturally." Lexi commented dryly,

"Massive's got duck in one o' does holdin units dat'll cancel out his quaking powers. He's in da warehouse waitin for weathervane's signal."

"Where's weathervane?" Tora asked, then jumped when she heard a large clap of thunder. All fo them turned around to see the weather mistress terrorizing the prison guards into running in a panic away from the prison, or out of her way. The gorudn was being scorched by her lightning bolts and her shrill laughter could be heard echoing through the clouds.

"Alright team," Ace said, crouching to the ground to draw a map in the dirt, "We need ta split up and woik fast. Lexi Me and rev will go distract weathervane, Meanwhile, Tech, Can you take out the controls on dat drill?"

"with an engine that sensitive, if I physically try to destroy them then we could blow the entire area to smithereens, and us along with it. But I know a virus I can program into its system so it will lock up. If the drill can't be operated, then their whole plan goes down the tubes."

Ace nodded, "Right, Slam, you go wit him. Make sure Massive stays off Tech's back while he works. And Tora?"

Tora jumped, almost forgetting that she was part of the mission too, "Y-yes?"

Ace smiled, "Glad you're here kiddo, you gotta make sure Duck gets out of dat cell safely. I hoid dem talking about the cell when they dragged him off. It's got motion detectin lazers. But they'll only work if they can see the motion, get what im sayin?" He winked at her, and she nodded.

"I understand."

Ace grinned, "Good, Lets jet gang! Good luck."

With that, the teams split. Rev cast one more look over his shoulder towards Tora, surprised to find she had done the same thing. He gave her a thumbs up, covering up his worry for her. He could tell she was doing the same thing when she returned the gesture, hustling to keep up with Tech and Slam.

_Be safe, all of you.._ she prayed silently in her head.

Tech was already running calculations on his palmtop computer when slam punched a hole big enough to fit a Semi 18 wheeler through the warehouse wall. It certainly gained Massive's attention, from his spot lounging near the drills control systems. From the affronted body language Duck was giving off, the blue villain had probably been in the middle of taunting the fowl when they had interrupted.

"BLARGRAAA!"Slam bellowed a battle cry as Massive charged at him, they locked grips and from there it was a test of strength. Tech ran with Tora a short ways into the warehouse before they separated. Ducks Cell was positioned a few hundred feet away from the drill itself. It was shaped like a large glass box, and was glowing an eery sort of blue. That was what was probably causing duck's powers not to work. with an attached glass hallway that housed all of the motion detectors. It seemed that the villains hadn't mentioned every precaution they had taken to trap the hero either. There were regularly lasers humming dangerously in random patterns all down it.

Tora gulped, this was going to be even more difficult than she had already thought.

_First things first… _she thought to herself, turning invisible before the motion detectors could pick her up. She crept closer to the opening of the hallway cautiously, mapping out the route she would need to take through the lasers. The motion detectors continued to swerve above her, looking for anything they could see.

She couldn't help but smile, this was the first time she'd be grateful for her powers.

_No time for that now, Tora, concentrate!_ The mouse scolded herself, shaking her head. She dropped to the ground and crawled on her belly under the first lazer beam, slowly and clumsily continued to weave her way through the maze like assortment. She nearly lost her balance when leaning a dangerous amount backwards to avoid one above her, and one of her feet slipped a short ways from under her. She caught herself however, and all that happened was a small lock of hair was fried at the end from the beam she nearly fell on top of.

Finally she made it to the end, right in front of the cell door. She turned the door knob, only for it to jiggle stubbornly in her hand. Locked, and from the look of the key pad in front, the code was probably too advanced for her to unlock herself.

Duck glanced up from his place sulking on the floor, having heard the noise. He hadn't seen Tora when she came in, so it was no wonder why he was suddenly wary.

"Whose there?" He called out, frowning and getting to his feet. Thrusting his arms out to make a few lava eggs but finding with an annoyed pout that the cell once again canceled out his powers.

Tora ignored him for the moment, taking a deep breath. She had a plan, but it was reckless, and probably very dangerous.

Before she could change her mind, the girl turned to face the motion detectors, standing directly in front of the lock. For a split second, she phased back into visibility. Instantly the motion detectors whirled towards her and shot all at the same time.

"Tora!" duck shouted, having seen her and panicking when the lasers took their shot. He underestimated just how crafty Tora could be. The girl turned invisible again not even a second after she had rematerialized and ducked out of the way when the door to the cell was blown to bits. The blue glow disappeared.

Duck covered his head , shielding himself from the debris, when he felt a hand grab his, dragging him up and to his feet clumsily. He yelped before he heard Tora's voice.

"Duck! Quack us out of here quick!"

Duck had just one second to realize that the thing canceling out his powers was now gone, and the motion detectors were powering up for a second shot towards him." He wrapped his arms around Tora's invisible form as best he could and quaked before they did. A large scorch mark was left just after they did when the lasers fired.

They each breathed a deep sigh of relief before the mallard took Tora by the shoulders and shook her vigorously,

"Are you CRAZY kid?! You've had all the time in the world and you choose NOW to grow a spine?!"

Tora smiled sheepishly at him and could only shrug and try not to be offended by what he said. They didn't have much time than that though. They heard Slam roar somewhere on the other side of the warehouse, and the next thing they knew, He was soaring over their head and landing face first into the wall thanks to massive antigravity powers.

"End of the line big guy." The blue man's loud baritone echoed as he floated gradually towards him. Tora couldn't help how her ears drooped somewhat, being intimidated by his size and the somewhat manic grin on his face.

"Well well well, look at the new addition to the losertics." He said, raising and arm, and Tora felt the grip of his gravity powers, "Well come on then little one, show me what you've got."

She could feel her feet start to hover off the ground, but he hadn't fully depleted her weight yet. He was _playing_ with her. His pure condescending tone he took when he talked to her proved that. And if Tora was the same person she had been before hse met the Loonatics, she wouldn't have done anything about it.

She narrowed her eyes, _But I'm NOT the same girl I was, I can fight back!_

A second later and she was invisible again, startling Massive enough so that he dropped his gravity powers off of her for a split second. She reacted quickly and dropped to the ground, rolling out of the way.

"Now Slam!" she shouted, while he had been toying with her, it had given Slam enough of a distraction to get his second wind and blindside him. The two of them were wrestling on the ground for a good moment or two before a wail of an alarm made all of them jump in alarm.

Tech stumbled out from behind the drills controls, looking panicky,

"The drills control firewalls had more gusto than I thought!" He cried out, "My virus got through but it triggered a self-destruct mode! I was able to lower the range to just the warehouse, but we gotta get out of her within the next five minutes!"

Everyone's eyes widened, and massive made quick work of shoving slam off of him, running for the nearest door or in this case, the whole Slam had made earlier.

Right before any of them could even think about going after him, there was a large clap of thunder, and Rev came speeding in a moment later, eyes wide in panic,

"In coming! In coming!" He yelled, which was enough of a cue for the others to either quack or spin out of the way. Rev grabbed Tora's hand on his way past her, leading her to a relatively safer side of the warehouse just in time for Ace and lexi to burst into the warehouse, followed closely by an extremely pissed off weathervane, to say the least.

"You stupid animals! You've ruined everything!" she screeched.

"Guess she found out the drill went offline." Tech said bemusedly, dodging a lightning bolt as she began shooting randomly.

"We aint got time for dis! We gotta get outta here while we still can!" Ace shouted up at weathervane, having found out about the incoming explosion from tech when he comlinked him a minute before.

Suddenly, the attention hungry woman grew a sinister grin,

"Oh, don't you worry about me Loonatic. I'll ride the high winds out of here before anything can catch me. You however, aren't going anywhere, except sky high when this place blows to bits!" she cackled and continued to shoot her lighting bolts, Thunder booming directly above them and making the rafters shake.

After a moment the Loonatics realized that she had caused all of the entrances to collapse, as well as set fire to many of the support beams. Smoke started to fill the room like a colossal black monster. It was getting hard to breath.

"Witch!" Lexi shouted, choking over the smoke she inhaled as a result, growling when she heard the echo of the woman's laughter, riding amongst the self-induced clouds she had made like a wraith.

There was an alarming _**crack**_ overhead, but with all of the noise around her, including the roar of the rapidly growing flames, Lexi couldn't tell where it was coming from. The others were currently trying to locate the villainess.

Only tora, eyes stinging from the dry and hot air, peered up in time to see a rafter shaking as flames engulfed it, threatening to fall any second. Her heart leapt in her throat when she realized Lexi was standing right under it.

"Look out!" she screamed, running towards the female bunny and shoving her out of the way with all her strength. Lexi gasped and fell to the side, sliding a few feet as a result of the force. A moment later, there was one final snap before the Rafter fell, flames trailing behind it like an insidious comet.

Both lexi and tora looked at the same time, tora ducked under her arms and tried to curl up as much as she could, letting out a strangled scream before the rafter, and a substantial amount of debris fell over her.

"TORA!" Lexi screamed, when she saw the debris fall, bringing everyone's attention to the scene just before their young friend was buried.

"No!" Ace shouted, running over as well as the rest of the team, leaving the now forgotten villainess to make her escape. The nerves in their hand screamed when they touched the hot metal and wood, but they kept digging.

_This isn't happening, this isn't happening! _Rev chanted in his head, pulling as much of the debris out of his way, praying to find Tora laying behind each piece he moved away.

Duck, who had been on the other side of the warehouse when this had all happened had finally caught up to them, and did something no one expected him to do,

"Get out of the way!" He shouted, shoving Ace and tech to the side when he quaked directly into the pile of flaming debris.

For five agonizing seconds, it was silent, and all they could do was wait while the timer on revs arm counted down the minutes to self-destruction. Meanwhile Duck was searching blindly through the hot debris, breathing as little ash and smoke as possible as he rifled under everything until he finally made contact with a small furry hand. He pulled himself through the destruction to wrap his arms more securely around Tora and quaked outside of it, landing a few feet away.

He tried to yell for the others, but all that came out at first was his own hoarse coughing as smoke filled his mouth. Luckily for him his teammates heard him and ran around to meet him. They saw he was holding Tora in his arms, head tipped back and mouth hanging open, her brown fur was poking through several rips in Lexi's borrowed suit.

"She's unconscious!" Duck gasped finally, "But I think she's alive!"

"One minute left, chief!" Tech shouted over the roar of the flames, as they close din around them.

"Duck! Get us outta here!" Ace shouted, kneeling next to the Fowl, the others following suit. Duck squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated. The more people he quaked with, the less distance he could travel. He did managed to get them outside of the warehouse though, before he collapsed. Rev readily took Tora into his arms as Ace hooked one of Duck's arms around his shoulder, supporting him on one side while tech took the other.

"Get outta here! Move!" Ace screamed, already starting to run towards the jet and as far from the explosion as possible, "Move move move!"

Rev of course was the first to make it to the outcropping the jet was hiding under, laying tora gently down on a piece of rock before running back to help his friends, Slam had decided that they weren't running fast enough, and once Rev had managed to pick up Duck, the Tasmanian had slung not only Lexi over his shoulder, but Ace and Tech as well, and was spinning as fast as he could after the road runner until they were all ducking safely behind the outcropping next to the jet.

They were all gasping and coughing from the aftermath of being in the fire when the explosion let loose, the ripple it let loose from the aftershock made even the jet rattle. Slam positioned himself so he worked as a makeshift wall between the wind and his friends, looming over them like a protective bear as they all curled around each other so none of them blew away. Tora was on the very bottom, shielded by all.

As soon as they heard the eery quiet that could come only after such a catastrophic explosion, did slam lean up and the others could assess the damage done.

"Rev," Ace rasped as he attempted to recover from the amount of smoke he and the rest of the team had inhaled, "Get Tora to a hospital, quickly."

Rev had the mouse in his arms and had taken off before Ace could even finish his sentence.

"The rest of us'll follow in the jet," He wheezed, leaning heavily on Lexi's offered shoulder, who looked near collapse herself with how much she was coughing.

"What about Massive and Weathervane?" Tech asked, helping duck to his feet as slam opened the door to the jet, moving a few boulders that had fallen in front of the wheels during the explosion.

Ace waved his hand negatively, though you could see the reluctance on his face, "We can't fight them when we're coughing up our own lungs. We gotta lick our wounds first then do afta them. Side, their plans ruined now, all they can do is run from capture."

Tech nodded, helping his teammates into the jet and following the trail of dust Rev had left In his wake.

The road runner glanced down at the unconscious girl in his arms, running faster than he had ever before,

"Hang on Tora!"

**Cliffhanger! Your welcome, again, lol. Don't worry, I don't do death fics. But the situation still doesn't look too good. See you soon! Hope you enjoyed!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry to keep you guys waiting so long, things got pretty busy this week. But this wont be a terribly long chapter, so I thought I'd shoot on through it while I could.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Loonatics unleashed.**

Out of all the phone call I could ever have gotten, this was one that I hoped I'd never get.

I had been calming down from me and Tora's little spat for a few hours, flipping through the latest issue of _Cosmos _when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I sighed, mentally preparing myself for the onslaught of guilt induced apologies Tora was about to pour down my throat. Then again, I had my own apologies I wanted to make.

Either way, I knew I couldn't avoid it forever, i rubbed my eyes tiredly and answered,

"Tora, look about before, I-"

"Cal?" I heard Tech's voice say from the other end. Only something was wrong, he seemed nervous (and not in the good 'im about to ask you out' kinda way) and his voice was hoarse, like he's been a chain smoker all his life and only now decided to show it.

"You aren't Tora…" I trailed off. Yeah, I know, way to state the obvious genius. But I couldn't help it, if Tora wasn't calling me on her own phone but Tech was, then why…

Suddenly I felt a cold chill run down my back, and I sat up straight, the cosmos magazine sliding off my lap and into a forgotten heap on the floor.

"Where's Tora?" wishing my mind was as icily calm as my tone was.

/

When the coyote rasped through what had happened, and which hospital they had all rushed Tora to, I dropped the phone without telling him I'd be right there. He was the smart one, he'd figure it out on his own.

For the first time in a long time, I felt like I wasn't in control of my own body, every movement was being rebelled against by my limbs, which were content to just hang limply in a panic while I rushed to gather a few things. I rummaged through Tora's desk, finally finding her insurance cards and other necessities. It took a few tries to get them into my hand bag, my hands were shaking so badly.

Finally I tromped into my room, thrusting open the closet and pulling out a pair of ratty looking tennis shoes, which at one point had been pure white but were now a sort of dingy grey. I used to be on my high school's track team, and these shoes normally repulsed me, but I and to get to the hospital quick, and clogs just weren't gonna cut it.

Next thing I knew I was running out the door, full sprint. I ignored the many bus stops and train stations I passed, it would all take too much time. I needed to get to Tora _now _she needed me _now._

Almost 30 blocks later, I finally ran into the emergency room opening, not sure where else to go or even begin looking. my feet slipped on the tiled floor as I skidded to a halt in front of the receptionist,

"Tora Gonzalez," I gasped, "I'm here to see Tora Gonzalez, please let me see her!" I gulped, swallowing the lump growing in my throat. I also had to swallow a shout of frustration when the woman stared at me bewilderedly for entirely too long before finally pulling a file out.

"I see, Tora Gonzalez, I need her insurance information-and"

Not letting her finish, I dumped the contents in my bag out and rifled through it, finally pulling out all of the information I had taken from Tora's room, and thrusting it through the window towards the woman.

"There! Take it! Just let me see her! Please!" the desperation in my voice was reaching a dangerous level. I hadn't been this on edge in years. Which explained why I jumped a foot in the air when I felt a steady hand rest on my shoulder.

"He's with us Ma'am," I heard Ace explain behind me. He sounded hoarse too, no doubt the result of his and the rest of the teams time in the fire.

The receptionist looked considerably irritated, but waved me away as she sorted through the information I gave her. I let Ace steer me away, hoping he was taking me to Tora, only to find the rest of the team in a waiting room of sorts. Some of them were breathing into oxygen masks, trying to clear the last of the smoke out of their lungs. Bandages were wrapped around various parts of their bodies.

I felt for them, and was glad they were all here and in one piece. But Tora was hire on my totem pole, she always would be.

"Where is she?" I said, not meaning to sound so harsh. Some of the edge was taken out when I realized how close to tears I sounded. I bite my lip when the others flinched guiltily.

"She's still in examination," Tech said softly, "The doctors said they'd inform us as soon as they get a full diagnosis of the damage."

I wanted to snap at him, at all of them. I wanted to rip them apart in the only way I could, with words, for letting this happen, then took another look at all of them.

Duck was hooked up to the oxygen tank, and had a majority of the bandages wrapped around his arms, yet he still stared unwaveringly at the door on the opposite side of the room. The door I assumed he knew the doctor would be coming through when Tora's condition had been determined. Tech was slumped din his seat, rubbing his temples as if he couldn't believe this whole mess was happening. He looked ten years older than his actual age. Slam had wrapped a large furry arm around Lexi, who was making a valiant effort to keep back her own tears. I had known Lexi only for a few weeks, and even I knew it took a lot to break her. She was tough, as a super hero and role model for girls everywhere should be. But she wasn't a rock. Not like Ace tried to be. The leader was staring grimly at the door much like Duck was, before he walked across the room and laid a gentle hand on Rev's shoulder. The roadrunner was twitching even more than usual, speeding from one end of the room to the other and casting worried looks at the others and at the door. Poor kid looked as scared as I was. In fact his twitchiness had gotten worse when I got in.

"Cal-im-so-sorry-i-should-have-done-something-but-but-but-i-didn't-see-it-until-it-was-too-late-tora-saved-lexi-but-i-wasn't-fast-enough-to-save-her-and-now-sh-she's-hurt-or-or-"

Ace rarely did so, but reached out and clamped Rev's beak shut to stop his panicked tirade. But I could tell the others shared his sentiments exactly.

They needn't bother, I knew they didn't mean for this to happen. Instantly, whatever anger I had with them melted down only to leave me feeling scared and worried. I shook my head warily,

"You got her to the hospital as soon as it happened, which is more than I could have done had I been there. I knew this is what came with being a hero.." I trailed off, biting my lip, "I…I just wasn't prepared for it to happen so soon."

Ace reached out, still keeping one hand steadily on rev's shoulder, and placed his other on mine in a comforting fashion. He waited for me to look up again and I was embarrassed knowing he could probably see my eyes welling with tears.

"She'll be okay." He said firmly, saying it loud enough so everyone could hear as well. "Tora's stronger dan what she tinks. She'll pull tru dis."

I sniffed, wiping my eyes on my sleeve, not caring how disgusting it looked.

"I know…" I nodded, trying to convince myself more so than Ace, "I know."

We heard a click behind us and we all spun to face the doctor who was tiredly making his way into the room. Everybody stood in apprehension, Slam, so fast that he tipped his chair over.

The doctor smiled tiredly, "She's stable."

A wave of crippling relief washed over me, and I felt the adrenalin keeping me on my feet melting away and I slowly sank to my knees on the floor, leaning forward. I didn't care how dramatic this medic thought I was, it was all 100 percent raw genuine emotion.

"Thank God." I breathed.

Tech leaned down to help me into a chair as the doctor explained Tora's exact condition.

"She is unconscious, but there should be no danger of her slipping into a Coma. You said Tora attempted to cover her head when the ceiling first collapsed?"

Lexi nodded and the doctor continued,

"That probably saved her from a concussion, although the sheer brute force of that amount of heavy material falling on her probably knocked the wind out of her and effectively unconscious. I was worried about the amount of smoke she must have inhaled, but we have her on an oxygen tank just like you Mr. Duck, we will keep that on her for a few hours until her lungs clear up."

He flipped through a few papers on his clipboard, "She has sustained quiet a few burns, varying from first degree to some minor second degree. She has bruising all along her arms and ribcage, along with some fractures but nothing was broken. No internal bleeding as of yet, and nothing that should be crippling or prevent her from going about her normal activities when she gets her strength up." The doctor looked up again, "In short? She was lucky."

'_bought time you caught a break, kiddo _I thought as I struggled to absorb everything. She was going to be okay. She'd look like hell for a few weeks, but she'd be okay.

"Tanks doc, we appreciate everything."

The doctor nodded, "It is my job, . I would advise you not to let this happen, but if my assumption is correct, Tora is going into the hero business "the doctor shot a look at me that pierced me like a fish hook to the gill, "We should be prepared that this may happen again."

I swallowed dryly, looking down as I tried to stomach that thought. Tech rubbed my back, looking like he wasn't sure what to do to help but still wanting to do something.

"You can go in now, but try to let her sleep as long as she can. She's going to be sore for a while, and needs as much rest as she can get."

He walked out another set of doors, saying he had other patients he needed to get to, and left us all in a suspended silence.

Ace allowed it for a few moments, giving the team time to get through the relief and gather their strength, "Alright. Now that that's taken care of, let's go."

I looked up in surprise when the others nodded and got up silently, even duck grimly took off his mask with a dry cough before shaking his head and squaring his shoulders determinedly.

"What do you mean? Where're you going?"

Ace gestured to the door, looking much more serious than he usually did when setting off for a mission, "We're gonna go get da creeps dat did dis to Tora."

I looked to Tech for an explanation, and the coyote scowled, but thankfully not in response to me, "Weathervane and Massive are currently still at large. Not for long." He assured with a growl.

If Tora were here, she would have scolded me for my reaction. She would say it was bad to wish harm on others, even if they deserved it. But Tora was unconscious on a hospital bed because of these people, and she couldn't hear me when I sneered coldly at the thought of the gravity and weather villains.

"Give em' hell." I ordered. They nodded before they were on their way, and a nurse led me to Tora's room, and the anger quickly dissipated.

This wasn't like catching her when she fell asleep on the couch. Those times it was cute, seeing her curled up like the little mouse she was and snuggled intot he cushions, content and comfortable. No, this was much much different. Under the stark white sheets, tora was laid flat on her back, hair splayed out on the pillow in black waves and the mask strapped aorudn her head foging up with every breath. She looked so delicate, so tiny. And wrapped in all those bandages, on her cheek, her hands, her arms, her neck…everywhere.

It broke my heart.

The nurse thankfully sensed this was a private moment and left me as the tears started to fall and I slowly went to stand by her bedside and sit, taking hold of her limp hand.

I had done this. This was just as much my fault as it was the villains. I was the one that wanted Tora to be a Loonatic, I was the one that encouraged her to be on the team, I was the one that told her she was ready when she wasn't. I was the one that put her here.

Something collapsed in me, and I let out a sob as I gently wrapped my arms around her, carefully avoiding any of her bandages

"I'm so sorry Tora," My tears left dark spots on her brown fur, "Sorry sorry sorry, my angel."

/ (temporarily out of Cal's POV)

Tora felt frozen, unable to move and unable to speak. It was dark, and whatever sounds she heard sounded muffled, like someone had stuffed cotton balls into her ears. First it was strange voices, ones she didn't recognize. But they sounded kind and worried, and somehow she knew that they were there to help. Then a while later, she heard Cal's voice.

But something was wrong, he sounded Sad. He was crying.

She wanted to open her eyes, she wanted to find him to tell him that she was okay, that everything was alright. But at the moment, it was like some invisible force kept her firmly there, and she felt tired…so so tired.

Without knowing it she had slipped back into unconsciousness, going back to semi-consciousness every now and again for the next few hours. Hearing more voices and getting just a little more feeling in her body every time. A few times she was able to blearily open her eyes just a sliver barely enough to see through her eyelashes, before she'd slip back into a deep sleep. She saw Cal right by her side, and instantly felt safe. He was blurry, but he was there. She could feel his hand wrapped tightly around hers.

Finally, After a full day of these dream like visions that the mouse could hardly tell were real or not, there was a stillness. Everything was still dark, but at leas tnow Tora knew it was because her eyes were simply closed instead of being forced into the darkness. Everything hurt, but it was considerably dulled. Wherever she was and whoever was with her had done their utmost best to keep her comfortable even though she was hurt.

Images of what had happened before came slowly to her, the mission, weathervane, the ceiling cracking, being buried, fire and smoke. People calling out to her…

She put the pieces together in her mind before she even considered moving or opening her eyes. She was in the hospital, she could tell from the smell of chemicals all around her, and the faint beeping of machines else ware in the area.

Next came the hard part, making sure everything still worked. She concentrated on making her fingers twitch in both hands. To her relief, they did, but to her surprise, she found that both of her hands were held delicately by not only one person but two, one for each hand.

Curious, the mouse opened her yes, shutting them quickly so she could adjust to the light, then opened them slowly again, taking in the sight before her.

The light had been dimmed in her hospital room, to make it more comfortable for rest for not only the patient but whoever else decided to occupy the room.

Looking first to her right, Tora was greeted by the welcomed sight of Cal, sleeping on his folded arms at her bedside but still holding her hand, right there for whenever she woke up.

_He's always there when I need him_ Tora thought fondly, eyes softening,

Next she looked to her other side, and was surprised to see it was Rev who was occupying her other hand. He had curled up in a somewhat uncomfortable position in a hospital chair, but his feathery hand was wrapped around hers. She flushed, unable to help noticing that the short downy feathers of his hands felt soft against hers.

She was pleasantly surprised to see the rest of the team sprawled out around the room. Tech and Duck had fallen asleep propped against a snoring Slam, a large 'get well soon' bear was propped against the wall next to them, Ace had fallen asleep sitting upright on the pullout bed at the window seat, and Lexi had fallen asleep on his shoulder.

Tora smiled. This meant the mission as a success, they were all her, together, they were all okay. She was able to help!

She shifted slightly in her bed, and froze guiltily when she heard Cal start to stir beside her,

The effeminate boy moaned slightly, rubbing his eyes as if that would make the dark bags underneath them go away. The results of almost a day of constant worry. Tora smiled, and squeezed his hand to alert him of her consciousness.

He blinked, looking up sharply then smiling, tears welling in his eyes of their own accord,

"Tora!" he whispered hoarsely, trying to stifle his relief and excitement so the others could sleep a little longer

Tora smiled, wanting to pull him into a hug but also not wanting to wake Rev by pulling her hand away, "Hey Cal."

Cal threw his arms around her, trying to be gentle but unable to hold back any longer. She could feel him shaking, trying to contain is relief as best he could, but she could feel the warm droplets of his tears soaking into the fur on her shoulder.

She reached with what little strength she had to wrap her one now free arm around him in response, nuzzling into him fondly,

The young man sniffed quietly, rubbing his eyes and brushing a thumb gently on her cheek, "Tora, im so sorry, this is all my fault…i-I never should have pressured you, I-"

Tora laid a hand on his arm to make him stop, giving him a reassuring smile, "No Cal, please. This was no one's fault, It was bound to happen to someone…i-I think I somewhat prefer it was me instead of someone I care about," He giggled softly at his glare, "But I daresay you disagree with me."

"I-I get that now…I don't think I fully grasped that before, all I was thinking about was what would make you feel good, I didn't think of the bad side of the coin that came with being a hero. I should have made the connection that being a hero meant you put yourself at risk for others, and I never ever should have encouraged my little sister to do something like that…."

Tora felt a brief flare of panic shoot through her and she sent a worried look at Cal, "Cal, please don't. Please don't take all of it back and say it was a mistake, I don't think I could take it."

Cal blinked and looked down at her, clearly not expecting this.

"W-Wha?"

"I know now," she continued softly, "I know that protecting the people I care about is more important to me than protecting myself. You didn't encourage me to put myself in danger Cal, you wanted me to stop hiding from the world. I was so concerned with protecting myself from the bad, I couldn't see the good anymore. I had almost given up looking for it…but Cal, you saved me."

Cal gave a warbly smile, and Tora continued, "You've been saving me every day of my life for as long as I can remember. Taking care of me, being there for me, supporting me even when I was in the wrong. Now I have the chance to do something for you, by protecting you from bad people like the people I fought today. And fighting for the good that this world does have, even if we can't always see it."

She smiled, "I'm ready. I want to be a Loonatic, even if it takes years for me to be able to go on another mission, to get my powers under control. I want to show the world I'm so much more than what they thought I was...what I thought I was. I want to be there for my teammates like you've been there for me. I want to make a difference….I'm begging you, don't take that away from me now. Please."

Cal leaned down, pressing his forehead into her hand, clearly thinking but moved by her plight. He didn't want to say yes at first, he wanted to take Tora home and keep her safe forevermore, in an ivory tower if he had to. That was just the big brother in him talking.

But one look in her eyes and he knew it was a losing battle. This was the first thing that Tora had really truly wanted and believed in for a long time. Who was he to take that away?

"Babygirl, you amaze me." He said finally, smiling to let her know that he agreed, and she returned it sweetly.

It was only a matter of time before their hushed voices would eventually cause the others to stir. And when they did, and saw Tora was awake, the rest of them were quickly roused to gather around her bedside.

Rev dove in for a hug before Lexi could even think to, easing up when he heard Tora whimper somewhat underneath him. He babbled happily in her ear for a good five minutes about how relieved and happy he was that she was Alright. If the hug didn't embarrass her enough, he actually went so far as to nuzzle her head affectionately with his cheek and beak. Something that was known to be a more intimate act in the bird race. It was lost on the others, but Duck did raise an eyebrow at him before Lexi shoved the road runner out of her way so she could take her turn for a Tora hug,

"Don't you ever ever ever EVER do that again!" She shouted, and no one could tell if she was actually angry or if she was just relieved, Tora laughed softly, knowing that she couldn't promise anything. Given the choice between saving lexi and letting Lexi get in exchange for her own safety, Tora would chose the former in a heartbeat all over again.

"You certainly gave us a scare little one," Tech said fondly, brushing his fist underneath her chin and Ace patted her head.

"A plus for the Heroics Doc, but ehhh, lets woik on your self preservation a little more." Although his speech appeared laidback, she could tell by the look in his eyes that he had been worried too.

Slam nodded his agreement, giving Tora's hair a gentle ruffle before presenting her with the giant bear he had bought her. Later she would find out he had tried to get nearly had the stores plushies for her, but the Loonatics had assured him that she'd be happy with just one. She smiled and hugged it, thanking him for the lovely thought. The Tasmanian devil grinned, happy to see her smile again.

And that left duck. Tora caught his eye as he walked slowly around the bed to the side where Cal sat. They stared at each other for a moment.

The mallard looked like he felt extremely out of place, not used to this mushy stuff nonetheless, his bill lifted in a sort of half smile, before he reached out and ruffled her hair like Slam did,

"yeah yeah, You did good kid. Just be more careful, for everyone's sakes, okay?"

Tora smiled, "I'll do my best."

They chatted for a while more, such as what had happened while Tora was unconscious. The Loonatics smirked and showed her a recorded newscast of the triumphant 'second wind' the Loonatics had had battling Weathervane and Massive. Tora could see the furious looks on each of the heroes' faces as they fought ten times harder then they ever had before. That time they had been fighting to avenge one of their own, and they had achieved that goal 100 percent. Both villains had been delivered to the transport for the high tech Space containment facility unconscious, along with mastermind and Sypher.

Shortly after, there was a beep signaling that someone was at the Door, and Zadavia walked in.

"Well then, how is our patient doing?" The ethereal looking woman asked.

Cal and Rev each helped Tora so she could sit up a little, "Much better now ma'am. Thank you." She stifled a yawn, "Just tired."

The Princess nodded, "that is understandable. Your body is recovering from a great deal of stress, it needs as much rest as it can get,"

She laid a hand on the mouse's shoulder, "But before that, I have something to give you…"

Tora blinked, and everyone realized suddenly that the woman had a small bundle draped over one arm.

Zadavia smiled, before she turned the bundle so they could see the front, and Tora blinked back tears,

It was a Loonatics uniform. One of her very own. She had her own color and everything, white. Pearl white. Zadavia placed it on Tora's lap so she could trace her hands over the shining upside-down triangle symbol. It reflected the light and the other colors of the other Loonatics, swirling and glistening. It was the most beautiful thing Tora had ever seen

"I also came to ask you, here and now. Tora Gonzales, would you do the Acmetropolis the honor of becoming a Loonatic?"

The others stared at her with bated breath. Here it was, the final decision.

Tora smiled, letting a tear roll down her face, "Yes ma'am. I'd like that very much."

Zadavia beamed and the others each cheered, Cal rubbed his own tears away before hugging Tora again,

"I'm so proud of you," He whispered.

They celebrated for a few moment more, before Tora could feel the fatigue start to catch up with her once again. Discreetly, she sank back into her pillows, happy to hear the voices of her teammates and friends lull her to sleep once again.

She had found her 'elsewhere' she found where she belonged.

And they had found their Hidden Pearl.

**So..fricken..tired. But im also unbelievably satisfied with how this came out. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey there! Sorry for such a long wait, life got complicated real fast. That and I got distracted with another fic. I still technically am, but I figured I'd finish this while I have the mindset to. This is the last chapter of the actual story, then I plan on having a bonus chapter for all of the Rev x Tora fans. It's been fun guys **

**: )**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Loonatics Unleashed**

_You don't have to be held down, because I used to be a shell. I let them rule my world. But I woke up, and grew strong, and I can still go on._

_And no one can take my pearl. ~Katy Perry_

Tora traced the words, gliding over the glossy white page of her yearbook in fancy print. At the last minute possible, she had phone called her high school that she did indeed want to be included in the book, despite her status as being home schooled. She was still on the roster, and despite past feelings, she had a right to be included in the book.

She had let those kids chase her away once, she wouldn't let that happen anymore. As demonstrated by her senior quote, sitting bold and bright by her picture.

The surge of adrenaline that came with the uncommon feeling of assertiveness in her had quickly escalated when she told the principal that she would indeed be present for the graduation ceremony with her fellow peers. 4 months ago, after a successful training session with Ace, it had seemed like a perfect idea.

Now, sitting on her bed all dolled up thanks to Cal's fussing, wearing a simple but elegant but sweet dress under her white graduation gown and just an hour away from facing all of her worst nightmares all over again, she wondered what on earth she had been thinking.

She placed a hand over her heart as if to steady its rapid panicking beating,

"Steady Tora…" she murmured quietly to herself. She couldn't go back on this, she wouldn't allow it. Somewhere out there, she was sure, there was a girl or boy that was too busy hiding from the world and their problems. Too scared to take a chance and go out to find something better. How could she hope to be someone they would look up to, and follow her lead as she had her six heroes, if she couldn't face her demons head on while she had the chance?

Ignoring the waves of unease roiling in her tummy, she placed the yearbook carefully on her bed just as Cal knocked on her door and entered upon her saying it was okay.

Dressed to the nines as always, but with a formal but flamboyant flair, Cal cocked his hip to the side and examined his handy work with a critical eye. He had managed to convince her to wear a strapless dress, scattering sparkles over satiny material that ended just over her knees. It stayed with the theme of white, her now signature color, and just like her Loonatic uniform, it reflected every other color in the right light. Her dark wavy hair had been coaxed in some parts, pinned with shimmering jeweled barrettes Cal had insisted she wear.

The boy couldn't keep the nonchalant attitude up, tears sprung to his eyes and he pressed a hand over his mouth,

"My god, Tora, sweetie," he breathed, "Beautiful doesn't do you justice right now. You're radiant."

Tora smiled shyly and folded her hands over her gown, shrugging because she wasn't sure what else she could say. For once, she couldn't find the words to argue with him. She _felt_ beautiful. Her ears stood straight and proud, miraculously.

Cal wiped some imaginary dust from her shoulder and hugged her, being careful not to smudge her makeup,

"I'm so proud of you, you know that right? You've come so far in such a short time. And soon I'm going to be able to say I know the city's greatest hero. As soon as your training with the Loonatics is over and your officially announced as one anyways."

Tora giggled, "You'll know the city's greatest _heroes _Cal."

"Yeah yeah, but you're what's important to me."

Tora shook her head with a small chuckle, and let go of him.

"Speaking of the Loonatics, have any of them talked to you lately?"

Cal cocked his head to the side, looking confused, "Not really. Not since your last training session, why? Did you forget to invite them?"

She hadn't. In the passing time she had spent with the Loonatics, they had become, in all honesty, like a second family to her. They did more than jus train her so she would be one hundred percent ready to take on the baddies they did. They helped her overcome her reservations that she still had, her scars. She had been naïve to think that a brief moment of courage was enough to erase an entire memory bank of abuse by her peers. Scars took time to heal, and the Loonatics had no problems taking all the time she needed.

Now she finally felt ready to be a Loonatic, but whenever she brought it up, the other team members seemed to either brush it off, frequently saying "I'll put the word in to Zadavia" but then she'd never see anything to warrant that they did. Most of the time they would just quickly switch to a different topic. It was confusing, and frankly it hurt a little. They had been so anxious for her to join the team before, now if it weren't for the fact that they kept inviting her back to the tower every couple of days to train or just hang out, she would think they wanted the opposite now.

Despite this interesting turn of events, she had invited them to her graduation. It was largely because of them that she was able to gather her courage and go after all. Now she wondered if it was the right thing to do, they were always so busy after all. All she was was an extra at the moment, just backup until her training was pronounced over

She stopped that crippling chain of thought before it could take hold,

'No' she thought, 'You asked if they'd like to come, and they said they would if they could. You didn't demand anything, there was no harm done. They'll be there if they can, just like they said.'

The car ride to the graduation hall felt oddly like a dream. It was rather surreal, knowing this might be the last time she would see any of her peers. She was sure if things had been better between them, it would have been a more bittersweet notion.

She was only vaguely aware of Cal kissing her on the cheek and telling her he'd be watching from the front row of the family seats, and wishing her good luck. Next she knew, she was standing in the hallway that lead to the backstage area, where she and her classmates would wait to be called during the ceremony.

A few glanced at her, but seemingly ignored her as she walked by, to them she was no different than the day she had left the school.

But she knew better.

The navy blue curtain was too heavy and thick for her to peek around and try to find Cal in the crowd, plus she was sure it would show up on someone's home video and she wouldn't ruin the occasion. She took a seat and tried to listen to the principals muffled talking as he commenced with the opening speech.

Finally, there was the sound of the band striking up, and pomp and circumstance echoed loudly throughout the auditorium. Tora's heart dropped to her stomach, but she did a marvelous job of covering it up.

Here we go.

One by one her classmates were called, alphabetically, to the stage to pick up their diploma and sit all together for one last time. She waited for the g's to come aorudn before she stood…

But her name wasn't called. To her panic, the principal moved on to the h's without calling her name. A few students snickered as they passed her, and she was left to babble incoherently in her own mind about what could have happened.

'Did the principal forget I said I was going to be here? Did they not have my diploma? Did I fail one class so I didn't have enough credits to graduate?'

These questions flurried around her mind and she fought back tears. She was so close, so close to feeling that freedom and accomplishment, please, don't let this be the answer..

Finally, the last person in her class with the name 'Yachovitz' was called. And she was left alone back stage. She was about to sheepishly sneak out the back door, when there was a clearing of a throat at the podium.

"Now, as some of you are probably aware, there was one name that was not called when it should have been,"

Tora paused, and listened, turning her ear to the curtain so she could hear better.

"But that is because, I thought it proper, that with one special occasion, another should follow suit."

There was a pause and a ruffle of cloth,

"Tora Gonzalez," the principal's voice called from the microphone, "Will you come out here please?"

Relief flooded through her at finally being called, only for her stomach to twist slightly at the approaching stage fright that was bound to occur. She fought to not let it take hold.

"No turning back, only look forward," she whispered to herself, before she parted the curtains and walked out onto the stage.

There was cheering from the parents section, mostly coming from a berserk happy looking Cal (some of the parents actually shifted a few inches away from him nervously) and a few scattered claps from the students section.

But she could hardly pay attention to that. Not when she was staring with her mouth open at her surprise on the stage.

Standing in a line by the teachers, and smiling at her with pride,

Was the Loonatics.

Rev waved at her with a happy grin as one slowly came to her face, the others following suit while Zadavia gave her a calm smile.

They made it!

The brief flicker of hurt that had been niggling at her all day from their lack of answer evaporated immediately, and she stepped forward to join them when the principal held up a hand to stop her.

"Before this remarkable young woman receives her diploma, our special guests would like to make an announcement. So now I give you Zadavia, of the Loonatics."

Tora felt incredibly out of place, just standing and gawking at one of the stage while Zadavia stepped up to the mic, shaking hands briefly with the principal. Her only answer to the question splayed out on her face was a brief gentle smile, before the ethereal woman addressed the rest of the auditorium.

"Today, these bright young people have proven once again that perseverance and hard work will always pay off in the end. Every one of them deserves to be congratulated, and hold their heads up proud as they exit into the real world. From this point on, there will be both happy times, but also challenges that I know they will overcome, just as they did those years in school,"

She paused to let this sink in before she continued, "But there is one, special young woman, who has overcome perhaps some of the most daunting challenges that comes with growing up. Acceptance of self, no matter who you are, and believing in herself."

"Not only this, but in addition to the use of incredible courage, and determination to protect those around her, I'd like to not only award Tora with this long deserved diploma, but also would like to announce yet another accomplishment in what is surely to be a long growing list in the future."

Butterflies fluttered in her stomach, her eyes widening.

Was this…Was Zadavia saying..?

The smile the Loonatics shared with her answered her question.

"I would like to announce, that this young lady, Tora Gonzalez, will be the newest addition to Acmetropolis team of super heroes, the Loonatics."

There they were, the words she had been waiting to hear for so long. Even in the collective confused silence of the auditorium, she beamed.

She knew what they must have all been thinking, what was special about her? Why was she going to be a Loonatic?

The old her would probably have a heart attack if she even thought about what Tora did next. But While it still made Tora nervous, she felt no shame when she shared a secretive smile with the Loonatics, and turned invisible, right in front of everyone.

There was a gasp in the crowd and murmurs and confused shouts all around. She calmly walked forward so she was standing next to Zadavia, who waited with her poised outwards for the handshake she knew was going to happen.

Tora waited a moment, letting the fact that she disappeared really sink in, before she rematerialized, ignoring the second collection of short gasps and yelps when she did.

Zadavia grinned at her, and took her hand, shaking in a way that was both firm, and gentle.

"Will you accept this honor Tora? Make it official?" She asked into the Microphone.

Tora spared a glance to her classmates. Most had their jaws hanging slack from their skulls, some even smiled, in an albeit surprised way. For a split second she caught the eye of the boy that had threatened her all that time ago, but as quickly as she did, he looked down again, refusing to acknowledge her again. It was the only thing he could do now to save face. She briefly wondered if the day would ever come that they would make amends, she wondered if the day would come that she would ever want to..

Turning away from the shaded faces of her classmates and to the Loonatics, who seemed to glow in the stage light, she smiled triumphantly.

"I will."

There was an eruption of cheering, throughout the auditorium, roaring and shaking the rafters. Zadavia touched her shoulder then let her pass to be officially welcomed into the fold by her teammates.

The principal handed her the diploma, and Lexi hugged her tight around the ribs, only for them both to be almost lifted off their feet in the embrace slam enveloped them in. Duck shared a small, but belligerently satisfied smile with her, while Tech brushed his knuckles under her chin with an 'atta girl'. Ace ruffled her hair fondly, and finally Rev met her in the long line of affection by matching her elated look.

He grinned and finally scooped her up and off her feet bridal style, swinging her around and around while she clung with a small yelp and laugh. Her triumph shone on her face like a beacon, promising a bright and wonderful future.

And Cal caught it all on tape.

/

So there it is, that's Tora's story.

I think you can probably figure out how things went after that for yourself. It was just like Zadavia said, happy times, mixed with challenging times. But that's life, and Tora was finally ready to face it.

So the next time someone tries to make you feel invisible, or that you aren't important. That there isn't something waiting for you out there that's going to make everything seem right again, remember, they were wrong.

And no one can take your pearl.

**Ugh, finally! Done! Well sorta, I want to add just one bonus chapter, but for the story purposes, I'm done. Thank you to all the readers who stuck with this story right into the extremely belated end. I love you guys! **


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